My New Life
by Kessafan
Summary: Ten months after graduation and things haven't gone how Rose thought they would... Would she ever have a life without pain? Let me know what you think...
1. Chapter 1

**Hi Everyone, Here's another story that popped into my head... I wasn't going to start a different one, but .....  
Anyway... Here it is, I hope you like it. I'm hoping to have this story finish up in less than 10 Chapters  
How do you think I'll go? LOL! **

**Anyway, have a read and let me know what you think....  
Sandy**

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**Chapter one**

Well, today's the day that I promised everyone that I would accept it. Accept that he wasn't coming back... accept that he left of his own accord, but saying the words didn't necessarily mean that I believed them. In my head, in could see their reasoning and I agreed with them to a point, he told Alberta that he was thinking of leaving, but my heart just couldn't believe that he would leave me like that. No matter what had happened between us, I knew his desire to guard, his steadfast belief that it was his duty to protect the Moroi people; he'd fought his desire for me because of that sense of duty...he wouldn't have just left. If anything he would have asked to be reassigned, I tried to tell them this, but they wouldn't listen. I tried to get them to search for him, but they just kept saying that he'd eventually come back once he'd worked through whatever was troubling him.

I of course knew what was troubling him... me and the fight that we'd had... I would forever regret my last words to him.

_Flashback......_

"_I love you Dimitri....why can't you just admit you love me too?" I was angry now, and I wasn't going to let this go until we talked about it._

"_I have."_

"_No... Saying the words is only half, anyone can say those three words, but not everyone has the fortitude to back them up with actions." I could see my words cut at him, but as with everything...I had to work hard to get him to open up._

"_You know I can't."_

"_No, I don't know that. You wanna know why? Because I can... I __have__. I have shown by my actions how much I love you. All I get from you is words. The only actions I get from you is being pushed away... time after time after time.... Whenever you get that little bit too close to showing me what you say you feel, you pull away...again."_

"_You know why."_

"_No, I don't. If you loved me like you say you do, you wouldn't push me away."_

"_I push you away Rose, because I know if I let myself take that step, I won't be able to stop." Now we're getting somewhere...._

"_Who says I want you to?"_

"_If I don't stop, I'll want you more than my desire to protect the Moroi. I'll want you more than the life that I swore to live. The life you want too.... That's why I hold back."_

"_Well you see Dimitri, that's where we have a problem, because I'm already there. I already love you that much..." I saw something flash through his eyes; I don't know what it was exactly. Hurt? Regret? Whatever it was, it wasn't love and it wasn't happiness..._

"_I need to go._ _I have a shift." I nodded and he turned away...again._

"_You really are a coward..." I mumbled as he walked towards the door. I'm pretty sure he heard me, but he didn't stop._

_End of flashback._

That was the last time I saw the love of my life. He'd gone to see Alberta to start his shift and told her that he was thinking of leaving, that the refuge that he thought St Vlad's would be after losing his last charge and friend Ivan, hadn't eventuated. Alberta told him to go onto his shift and think about it before he made any definite plans. He never returned from his perimeter guarding. No-one knew how long he'd been missing; his shift was for eight hours, it could have been anywhere in that time. Alberta had sent out a few guardians to retrace his route, but nothing out of the ordinary had been found. The wards were intact; there was no sign of a struggle...no trace of him. They came to the stupid conclusion that he'd decided to leave.

I was devastated... My last words ripped at my heart and conscience. If he _was_ dead, I would never have a chance to take them back; never have the chance to say how sorry I was; how much I loved him. I was strong for a week after he... went..., I never showed how much I was hurting for a whole friggin week... but everything has its breaking point, even me.

I'd been walking from the commons to the classrooms when I smelt _his_ aftershave...a smell that I'd been starved of. My heart leapt at the thought that he was back... All of my friends were with me at the time and I took off frantically trying to find the source of that magnificent scent. I heard them all yelling at me to slow down and I knew that Eddie was right behind me, the others behind him. I rounded the corner of the guardians building and ran smack dab into...Stan. The scent I'd been trying to find enveloped me... _his _scent... My heart dropped, I was so confused...

"What... why...?" I couldn't think.

"What the hell is wrong you Hathaway?" he yelled.

"Your aftershave....?" His eyes narrowed at me in confusion. "Where did you get...?"

"It's Belikov's." I could feel my heart being squeezed tightly in my chest, my vision blurred...

"Why do you...?"

"Well I wasn't going to throw it out and it couldn't be sent back to his family with the rest of his things. What's it matter to you?" I could feel nausea swirl in my stomach... It had only been a week and they had already wiped his existence here away. All I had left of him now was his scent... on _Stan_!

I ran as fast as I could away from Stan and that amazing scent and once I found myself in the trees, I bent over and threw up. I knew the others were behind me and I could feel worry and confusion come through the bond from Lissa. She didn't understand, she thought I was sick...something unheard of for us Dhampir's.

"Rose?" She whispered from behind. "Are you alright?"

I wiped my mouth with my sleeve and fell to the ground and with tears welling up fast, I turned to face her.

"They think he's not coming back..." I said through my tears. "He has to come back..." I could feel myself shaking and the sobs racked through my body. I don't know what my face looked like but something must have shown in it that made her wonder why I was acting like this. I knew the instant she made the connection.... I saw the pictures and heard remembered snippets of our conversations run through her mind.

_Why didn't you tell me? _She asked silently. I could feel her hurt; she thought I didn't trust her.

"I couldn't." I said. The others were staring at us in confusion.

_How long? _

"Can we have some privacy please?" I asked the others.

"What's going on?" Christian asked me.

"I need to talk to Lissa privately. Please..." The all nodded and Christian came over to Liss and kissed her on her forehead before walking away with Eddie. Adrian nodded to me... he knew what was going on; he knew about my relationship with Dimitri, he was the only one who did. He gave me quick wink in support before leaving with the others. Once they were far enough away, Liss walked over to me.

"How long?" She asked again. I took her hand once I'd stood back up and walked her to another tree; the smell of my previous regurgitation wasn't helping my stomach at all. We sat down and I told her everything, when the attraction began and all the way up to our fight... our _last_ fight. I even told her what I'd said to him, those horrible words that continued to eat at my soul. When I was finished, she pulled me into a hug, her feelings no longer emanating betrayal or hurt, they were compassion with a hint of anger.

"Did you two ever...?"

"No, nearly though, but he..._pulled _away, got control and stopped before we went too far." She was angry that Dimitri and I had been forced into this situation because of stupid, out-dated beliefs...her thoughts not mine...well no, that's not completely true... I thought they were stupid and out-dated too.

After our talk, I let my closest friends all in on my relationship with Dimitri. But that night, after telling Lissa the truth, I went to bed and finally let all the pain out, I cried and screamed and literally fell apart. Other students had heard me in my room and told the matron who in turn told Alberta...and yeah, you know the rest. So now... Alberta and Kirova knew. At first they were angry at Dimitri, then at me for our relationship, then they blamed me for his 'leaving'. I tried to get them to see that he wouldn't have just gone..._again_, but again... they wouldn't believe me. The next two months went by in a blur and we finally graduated and moved to the Royal Court where Lissa, Adrian, Christian and I, along with the other guardians, accompanied them to Lehigh College.

It was now a year, since Dimitri...left. I'd promised Lissa that if after a year, he hadn't come back then I would accept it and move on. I'd become very good at hiding exactly what was going on inside, my guardian mask was picture perfect. Adrian knew...of course; him and his aura reading... I could never hide anything from him, just like I could never hide anything from...Dimitri.

The day after the first anniversary of his disappearance, we got word that a number of high ranking Moroi had been taken in a strigoi raid. Some royal snob was having a party for his daughters 16th birthday and the wards had been broken by humans. Strigoi had been banding together lately and with each raid they made, their numbers increased. But what worried the queen the most was the fact that the raids were getting closer and closer to the Royal Court, of course that's all she thought of...herself, not that other Moroi were being killed. She decided that they weren't going to get any closer to Court, so she organised a guardian task force to take on the strigoi, I of course was drafted into the task force.

Over the last ten months since arriving at Court, I'd built myself quite a reputation. I now had thirty-eight molnija marks on my neck, only one other guardian here had more than me and he'd been a guardian for nearly thirty years. I even had my mother publicly acknowledge how my abilities surpassed everyone else; of course she was slightly tipsy at the time...who would have thought.... One night we'd been informed that a select group of Moroi would be accompanying us in this task force; Moroi that had been trained in defensive magic and fighting techniques. Tasha and Christian Ozera, amongst other Moroi fighters would be helping us defeat this 'strigoi army', before they got too close for comfort. So for the next week, the guardians trained with the Moroi to find out who worked better with whom.

Christian and I were paired up, much to Lissa's relief and Tasha was with Guardian Thomas. Guardian Thomas was an amazing fighter, I'd sparred with her a lot and she was one of the toughest guardians around. The night before we left, my group of friends and I all got together and enjoyed each other's company. No-one brought up was going to happen in the morning, no-one implied that it could be the last time we were all going to see one another, we just all needed to be together.

"All set?" Liss asked from my bedroom doorway.

"Yeah." I said as I turned to face her. "I'm coming home Liss, I promise you that. And I'll even try to remember to bring Fireboy home with me." She smiled at my joke but it didn't reach her eyes and I could feel her sadness through the bond.

_Don't go, Rose...._

"I have to Liss. I have to do this. They need to be stopped before they get here. They need to be stopped while we still have the ability to do so, before their numbers get to the point where we will be overwhelmed and they come to take the Court and everyone in it. I'm doing this for _your_ protection like I swore to do. I promise I'll come back."

"I know, I had to try." I smiled and took her in my arms. "They're waiting downstairs."

As our specially outfitted 'battle-buses' as I called them, drove out of the wards of the Royal Court, I felt Lissa's heart break. Some of the world's best guardians had been pulled for this assignment; from all walks of life, from all countries...that's how important this mission was. Intel had come through about large numbers of strigoi in certain areas of Pennsylvania and with a lot of discussion; a consensus had been batted out that their hideout must have been in the middle of their killing zone. We knew which area that we would be searching; we just had to narrow down the exact location of their hideout once we got there.

The majority of guardians on the 'battle buses' were over the age of thirty and they were battle hardened, straight laced warriors and we numbered 150 in total including Moroi, it was the largest task force ever assembled, but then this was the largest and the most uncertain battle facing our people in modern times. We arrived in the White Haven township about two hours before sundown, those that had slept on the buses would be going out on scouting parties, those who didn't get any sleep would get our accommodation organised and then get some shut eye themselves, everyone had to be well rested for the fight ahead. We weren't going on a rescue for those taken on the birthday party attack; they would have been drained within the first 24 hours of being taken. This was purely a search and destroy mission.

One of the leading Royal families had a large estate just out of the White Haven town limits in amongst a heavily treed and ultimately private area, so we were using that as our head quarters. Hunting parties were in groups of twenty and spread out in all directions. Each group had five Moroi; two of which were fire wielders, one water, one air and one earth. This was so that if we'd become trapped and couldn't return to base, then we had all four element users to put up temporary wards until help came or the sun made an appearance. The extra fire user would only be called upon if the first was too weak to continue fighting.

"How long do you think it'll be before we find some sign of them?" Christian asked me. I knew that as much as he relished in the thought of fighting and killing the strigoi, he also wanted to be back with Lissa as soon as possible.

"I honestly don't know, I hope we have a little bit of luck on our side for once and we can find them today, but don't hold your breath."

"Oh..." he said sarcastically, "I always knew you cared Rosie... But don't worry, I'll keep breathing."

I gave him a soft punch to his arm as he tried to duck out of my reach while laughing. He'd really grown on me over the last twelve months; we were so much alike in so many ways, so I guess that's why we not only got on so well, but also why we fought so much. But, we both knew that we had each other's backs 100% when it mattered the most.

By the time the sun started to rise we all headed back to HQ to rest up. No signs had been found on our initial sweeps of the township, but that simply could have just meant that they hadn't needed to feed that night. The next morning we all got up and grabbed breakfast before heading out once more. The sun had set over the horizon two hours ago when word came through our earpieces that a small group of four strigoi had been sighted and brought down on west side of town, but what absolutely floored us was the fact that they had a human with them, one that fought alongside of them. Apparently he'd fought nearly as well as a dhampir and had to be taken out. They'd tried to capture him; the Moroi had tried to use compulsion, but they weren't strong enough to counteract the compulsion of the strigoi that held his mind. Why would they have humans fighting with them? Why would they even attempt to train them to fight? I couldn't think of one reason for them to do this, wouldn't they just change them?

I was the leader of team one, along with nine other guardians and our five Moroi, so that meant that we had to go check things out at the scene of the encounter. We arrived in the area ten minutes after the alert came in. Apparently a quick search of the surrounding area had pulled up a lead; the small strigoi group had been seen leaving one of the houses in the area. I knew that we were in the right area as soon as we started driving up the street...because that's when the nausea started to swirl in the pit of my stomach.

"They're here." I said into my earpiece. "Be on alert, there's a lot." I'd come to realise that my nausea increased with the amount of Strigoi in my vicinity but I can honestly say that I have never felt this sick in my life.

"How many?" Asked Alberta. She was in the team that had come across the small group and I could see them at the top of the hill; a good 30 yards away.

"Too many..." I whispered. One we stopped and got out of the car, I could literally feel the nervous energy that gripped the people around me. They all knew about my strigoi alarm so they knew that when I said what I'd said...that we could be in a bit of trouble. We left the Moroi in the shade that the cars provided and walked over to Alberta's team.

"Rose." She said with a nod in greeting.

"Hi Alberta." I was trying with everything I had not to throw up but it was getting harder and harder.

"That many hey?"

"I've never felt this bad before Alberta and I'm not afraid to say that I'm a little weary to find out just how many are around here."

"Well, we've counted thirty homes in this area, and adding that to what _you've_ just told me, I have a bad feeling that they're _all_ going to be occupied by strigoi. We've just asked HQ for a satellite image of the area so that when we go back we can start to strategise."

"If this lot don't go back," I said indicating to the dead Strigoi, "...aren't they going to be missed? The rest are going to know that guardians are in area, we'll no longer have the element of surprise on our side."

"Mmm, maybe, maybe not. We'll just have to plan for both scenarios." Once we'd got the bodies taken care of and had a quick assessment of the area, we all headed back to base, we didn't need any longer in the field. The two top guardians and head Moroi out of each team went into the planning rooms to organise a plan of attack. We had to be sure of what we had to do and how to go about it to ensure the least loss of life we could. Everyone knew that we wouldn't be lucky enough to come through without casualties, but we also knew that this wasn't just a fight for _our_ lives, but the whole Moroi and Dhampir community at large. We _had_ to come out the victors of this battle, there was no other option.

"HQ, HQ.... team four reporting." Guardian Cross' voice came into our earpieces. Team four was one of the two teams that were the furtherest out when the call to come back to base was sent out.

"Yes team four." Said Alberta.

"HQ... we could have a problem. Before we could leave, we saw a group of Strigoi; four of them."

"Acknowledged team four, what's the problem? Did you have to engage?"

"No, we were able to stay hidden. The problem is they had two others with them, a human and a...dhampir." Everyone looked at each other, some getting their meaning before others.

"I'm gathering the dhampir was one who hadn't been changed into strigoi?"

"That's correct. They just followed the group, but we could see that they'd been fed from. I don't know what's going on, but the dhampir looked pretty out of it."

"What are they doing Alberta?"

"I wish I knew Rose, I wish I knew..." She was as confused as I was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, here's the next chapter. Please let me know what you all think of this story...  
I got a lot of 'favourites' and 'update alerts' but not many reviews... Isn't it as good? :-(  
Well, I hope you like this chapter, so happy reading! **

**Sandy**

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**Chapter two**

I was amongst a few covert groups that had gone back to the small housing estate and found at least twenty dhampirs and humans. None of the dhampirs had been recognised but from what we could see, they'd all been used as feeders and daytime guards. The humans looked in complete control of their faculties, while the dhampirs looked dazed and under compulsion. It took another two days to plan everything, fresh strigoi attacks had been happening in White Haven and small groups of guardians had gone out to gather more intelligence while trying to defend against more innocent loss of life. We all knew what our jobs were going to be once we got to the strigoi occupied houses, now we just needed to rest. Everyone found their beds but I don't know how many actually closed their eyes. Even with all of my kills, I must admit that I was concerned that I wouldn't make it out alive this time; we were going up against a large number of strigoi...and my 'warning alarm' didn't work with humans and dhampirs, anything could happen, and if_ I_ felt this way, I could just imagine how the others were feeling.

I woke to a light knock at my bedroom door and was greeted by Alberta's always serious face. Huh! I didn't even realise my eyes had shut.

"We'll be leaving in forty minutes Rose; I've let you sleep in as long as I could."

"Thanks Alberta." I said rubbing my eyes, she nodded and left then I went into my bathroom to get ready for the coming day... After showering and getting dressed, I walked into the lobby of the main house and saw the other guardians and moroi walking out to get into their vehicles.

"Big day Rose." Guardian Greg Chambers said beside me.

"Yeah... big day alright. Do you have enough weapons with you?"

"Yup. Three stakes and two knives."

"Good." I said simply. Greg was a lovely man and a damn good fighter; it would be a shame to lose someone of his calibre today. As I looked around the room I thought to myself, 'who was I kidding', _everyone_ here was of his calibre... or higher and I knew damn well we were going to lose a fair few of them, if not the majority of us in the next few hours.

Finally we were driving off to our targets. The drive was eerily quiet, everyone lost in their own thoughts. Whether those thoughts were of the upcoming fight, their own mortality or of the friends and family that they may never see again... whatever they were, everyone was deep in thought. Once we got just outside the small community of houses, Alberta stood up and once again quickly outlined to each and everyone one of us, our battle plan. We had split the original six teams of twenty so that we could have smaller groups to attack all the houses at the same time. After we'd taken out the two groups of strigoi the other day, the chances that they knew we were here was fairly high, so we had to make sure we hit each house at the same time; giving them no chance to notify each other of the raid.

The teams had been broken down so that we now had 20 small teams consisting of a fire user and three guardians and 10 teams of four guardians with three other elemental Moroi. I'd watched the Moroi practice during the week before we left the Royal Court and I was amazed at what they could accomplish. The air users could compress the air to such a point that they could shatter large boulders; I could only imagine what that would do to a strigoi head. The water users now had the ability to freeze the water in their control into any shape they pleased. One water user shaped the ice into a spear and flung it straight into the practice dummies... that would give the guardians a good five minutes breathing space. The earth element users could literally manipulate any object made from something from nature; or manipulate nature itself. One of the female earth users stood in a field back at court surrounded by ten dummies and within fifteen seconds, all ten dummies were either pierced by a tree branch or pelted with so many rocks at once that their heads were literally cut off and one of the dummies was completely enveloped in a mini tornado of dirt and debris. She was amazing, but I'd also seen how much energy it had taken out of the Moroi to use so much of their magic.

We broke into our groups and silently made our way to our designated houses. We moved without a sound and in the shadows; working only with hand signals and then the leader of each team would tap their earpieces twice to signal that they were in position. I was the leader of my team who consisted of Christian, me (of course) and Guardians Marcus and Anderson. The house in front of us was a small single story home, so that was lucky I suppose... there were a lot of two story ones here. Alberta was mission leader and once all thirty teams had given the 'ready' signal, she told us to move in.

Marcus and Anderson quickly went to the windows at the front of the house and had a quick look inside. Marcus shook his head to indicate 'none seen', Anderson held up one finger... _Okay_, one in the front...I wonder how many others were in the house? I indicated to make our way around to the rear; maybe we could gain entry easier from there. Looking through the windows once more and not seeing any strigoi...we took that as our chance.

"Remember Christian..." I whispered. "...light one up to distract, then let us take it from there; _only_ use your magic when absolutely necessary. We have to conserve your energy."

"Yes Rose..." he mouthed back annoyed. I know we'd gone over this before, but I had to make sure he'd listened to me. This could be a long, drawn out fight; the Moroi had to be used sparingly.

I nodded and then carefully turned the handle of the door and hoped to God it wouldn't squeak. I pulled it open just enough to get in and moved over to hold it open from the inside for the others. Once inside we surrounded Christian; he had to be protected at all costs, plus in this formation we had a 360o view of our surroundings. We went room by room and found no strigoi, but I knew they were here from my nausea. We rounded a corner and could hear talking.

We dropped down and I pulled out a small mirror; not unlike the little round mirrors that dentists use. Slowly easing it around the corner of the wall, I saw three strigoi...hopefully that would be all we would run into here. I held up three fingers and everyone nodded. We moved into position with Christian behind us and then I made a noise... sure enough, they were in front of us in seconds. The fighting was immediate, each guardian taking on a strigoi. Christian quickly set the one I was fighting on fire and I used the distraction to drive my stake into his cold, dead heart. Then I went over to help Anderson bring down the one he was fighting. Once he went down we went to help Marcus, that strigoi really didn't stand a chance with all three of us on him. As soon as it was 'dead', the nausea died down somewhat, I don't think it would ever leave...not while in this estate, there were just too many around me, but I was fairly sure that this house was now strigoi free.

We got back into formation and quickly searched the rest of the rooms and basement and it was as I expected...strigoi free.

"Rose – done." I said simply. Our orders were that if we'd cleared a house then to go to help another team. We knew the leaders of the teams either side of us, so a quick call from either of them would call us over.

"Peters..." Came the call, so we left the house we were in and made our way to the house to our right. "Six... rear."

Okay, so we knew how many and where we had to enter from. We got to the back door which was still open from their entry and made our way in. I gave a quick touch to my earpiece and whispered my name so that he knew we were here. Just then we heard fighting from the front of the house. Still in formation, we made our way forward. I saw movement to my left, but before I could do anything, a leg kicked out at my ribs. The force of the hit pushed me into the others making us break formation. I quickly regained my footing as did Marcus. We both jumped at the female but she was quick and strong. She spun and ducked as I went for a mid-air roundhouse kick, but as I started to land, I reached out and grabbed a handful of her hair. Marcus went low and swept her legs out from underneath her. She landed on her back but jumped to her feet quickly, but she should have just left instead of trying to fight. I was now in front of her, Marcus was behind. I swiped my stake at her face making her lean back so as to avoid the magically enhanced silver, just as Marcus's stake went through her back and into her heart.

I quickly glanced over to the others and saw that Christian was fine, so bringing him into the middle of us once more, we moved forward towards the fighting. Guardian Peters' group was one of the 'four Guardians and three Moroi' groups and as we got closer we heard the sound of wood snapping...breaking, over the top of the fight. Strigoi screams and screeches ripped through the air and tore at our eardrums... The earpieces amplified it, but they were necessary so we had to put up with it... On previous encounters, the strigoi screams coming through the tiny voice activated mics were so loud; guardian's eardrums would burst...

As we made our way into the front rooms of the house, the fight was going strong. Furniture was smashed, floorboards buckled and broken under the force of thrown bodies. I cringed inside as one guardian and one Moroi lay dead on the floor; their necks ripped open. Before I could make a move or a sound, Christian lit one of the strigoi up in flames... Marcus and Anderson flew forward into the fray, Christian and I close behind them. There was an old one here; he fought like very few strigoi could. Within twenty seconds, he'd flung one of the other team members across the room unconscious, which left two of the first team's guardians and three of us. Problem was...we had three Moroi standing behind us.

We took on the strigoi one on one, the fight was hard and we'd already been in our own mini battle not long ago. As my luck would have it, _I_ got the old one, of course, the one who'd been feeding on the strengthening blood of Moroi for God only knows how long. He also made sure that he positioned himself so that I was in the middle of him and the Moroi. I'd fought old strigoi before, but this one was ancient and fast... His fists flew at me like lightening. I was able to block most of them, but a few connected. My cheek was burning after one particular hit; if the bone wasn't broken then I was in for a wicked bruise there tomorrow. I dropped down and kicked out at his legs but he jumped at just the right time to avoid being knocked down.

The fight continued on like this for what seemed forever with each of us giving and receiving hard blows and kicks; one of us had to fault sooner or later. The problem was that strigoi don't get tired...but dhampirs do. Finally, and I don't know if it was more good luck than good management, but somehow I managed to thrust my stake into his heart. I quickly looked around and saw Marcus, Anderson and Banner now fighting together on the last strigoi. The water wielding Moroi burst the water pipes in the house, then manipulated and froze the water around the strigoi's head; a second later it was dead. As he finally went down the nausea lessened once again I nodded to Peters and quickly scanned around the immediate area.

"Have you been able to search downstairs?" I asked.

"Yes... the basement is clear, but we haven't been upstairs yet."

"Alright. I'm not sensing any more strigoi, so I'll go do a sweep. Let Alberta know that we're clear." Peters nodded and went to walk back to the others. "Marcus, Anderson..." I called out as I made my way up the staircase. It came out slightly louder than what I had intended but I knew from the chatter going through my earpiece that nearly half of the houses had been cleaned of strigoi. A few teams had been lost and the strigoi were now teaming up on the guardians, so we were needed elsewhere. But we need to check upstairs first. We climbed the stairs to do a sweep but as I'd said to Peters, even though I knew there were no strigoi here, we also knew that unchanged humans and dhampirs were helping them and we still didn't know why. Some of the unchanged had been subdued and captured and were being prepped for transport back home to Court for interrogation; hopefully _they_ would get some answers. Room by room we searched and came up empty, so we knew that _this_ house at least was clean.

We made our way outside into the streets and to report in. I saw movement in my peripheral vision but when I turned, I could see nothing.

"Rose? What's wrong?" Peters asked quietly.

"Thought I saw something."

"It's probably other guardians coming to meet up."

"Mmm... Maybe." As we made our way to another house, I had the feeling that we were being watched...followed. But we were still in full sun and my stomach was back to normal; other guardians wouldn't be skulking in the shadows. I tried to ignore it, but as guardians, we're trained _not_ to ignore anything, least of all the gut instinct that we Dhampirs seem to be born with. I stopped walking and closed my eyes as I concentrated on my hearing. I turned my head slightly to my left and listened..._ there! _I knew it... someone was moving behind us.

"Rose?" I opened my eyes to see my team standing in front of me. "What is it?"

I indicated behind me by flicking my eyes to the left. Marcus and Anderson knew instantly what I meant, Christian narrowed his eyes.

"Guardian Peters." Marcus called out. "Does anyone in your team have an extra stake?" I didn't know why he said that at first, but then I knew he was trying to make small talk so as not to alert whoever was following us around...

"No why?"

"We're missing one; we must have left it back in the last house." I glanced over to Peters to see if he'd picked up on Marcus's meaning and he had. He, as well as everyone else here knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that _no_ guardian would _ever_ 'forget' a stake.

"Well then, you'd best go back and get it."

I gave a quick nod and we all walked back towards the house. As we walked we kept glancing around, checking for any movement. When we entered the house once more, the bodies still laid where they fell but even as I knew that strigoi no longer occupied this house, the feeling that we weren't alone never left me.

"Have you found it Marcus?" I asked aloud while searching the house.

"Not yet." Just then I heard a sound coming from the direction of the basement, well I'm pretty sure I heard a sound. I indicated to Marcus that I was going downstairs and ordered him to check upstairs.

"Stay with Christian." I whispered to Anderson. I slowly opened the basement door but couldn't see a thing, I carefully felt around the doorframe but found no light switch...hopefully there'd be a light down there somewhere. It didn't take long for my eyes to adjust to the darkness and I saw that the staircase was an open one, meaning my legs could be grabbed by someone hiding under the stairs. I pressed my back against the wall as I descended, while scanning the area below me _and_ through the gaps of the stairs at the same time. It was cold and damp down here, the air even had an almost mossy taste to it. Once at the bottom of the stairs, I tried to see if there was a light down here somewhere but it was just too dark. Slowly I inched forward into the room, cringing at the soft crunching of the dirt underfoot. I mentally slapped myself as I let out a soft gasp when something touched my forehead. I swatted at it and then realised that it was the cord for the light bulb. I took a calming breath as I clutched my stake in my right hand and then reached out with my left to pull on the light-cord. The wattage of the bulb was low and didn't give much light but I at least had more light now than I had before.

In front of me were shelves and boxes, old children's toys and bicycles. There were no doorways for escape or alcoves to hide in, but as I was about to turn to leave, the hair on the back of my neck prickled and every fibre of my being became acutely aware that I was not alone down here; someone was behind me...

I instantly spun around with a roundhouse kick and connected to the male behind me; sending him to the ground. I dropped into the cat-stance with a stake in each hand ready for a fight but the world stopped as the body on the floor turned to face me...

"Dimitri...?"


	3. Chapter 3

**HiEveryone, Well here's the next installment, I hope you all enjoy it... Don't forget to let me know if you think it's worth continuing or not...  
Thanks guys  
Sandy**

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**Chapter Three**

I froze and forgot to breathe as I stared down at the face in front of me. It _couldn't_ be him... I squeezed my eyes shut in disbelief hoping that when I opened them, I would find someone else there... or nothing, then it would only have been my imagination...

_Shit!...No... He's still there_..._a thinner version, but..._ I slowly moved to the right, inching my way closer to the staircase. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the haunted ones looking back at me. It _can't_ be him... can it? I slowly reached up to my earpiece and tapped it three times to indicate I needed backup. I didn't want to trust my eyes, my heart wouldn't survive... As it was, this...all too real illusion was starting to crush my insides into pulp.

"On our way..." came Christian's voice.

"Roza...?" _No...illusions don't speak...I really am losing my mind..._

"Ohhh..." The sound that left me was halfway between a sob and cry of pain... My feet were glued to the spot; I was unable to move, unable to believe... I was aware of the footsteps coming from above me but I still couldn't look away, scared that if I did the wonderful illusion in front of me would disappear...

"Holy _shit_..." Christian yelled from behind me. "Belikov...?"

"You see him?" I whispered almost afraid of his answer...

"Rose... Move away."

"_You see him...?" _I yelled back. "Answer me Christian..." Someone grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back but I twisted out of their grasp.

"Show us your eyes." Anderson said as he shone a torch at..._his_ face. They were brown... deep, warm brown eyes... Eyes that I longed to look into again, that I'd dreamt of for twelve long months. Before I knew what was happening, my feet started moving on their own accord, my heart thumped madly behind my ribs. The sound of the rushing blood in my ears drowned out all other noise around me and I soon found myself standing above him, still not wanting to hope that it was really him, but at the same time, _desperate_ for it to be him. He slowly moved off the floor; his eyes darting between me and the others behind me until he stood at his full height in front of me.

"Roza...?" That voice... _his_ voice... The desperate sob that ripped from my throat took me by surprise and unshed tears blurred my vision.

"Are you...real?" I whispered. With a shaking hand I reached out to touch him but I stopped inches away from him, scared that this was a cruel dream. I watched unable to breathe as his hand slowly moved forward to touch my fingers... _"OH GOD!"_ I yelled the instant our hands touched. He _was_ real! He was _really_ here...standing in front of me... _really real!_ I sprang forward like lightening; wrapping my arms around his neck, my legs around his body...desperation for this _NOT_ to be an illusion gripped me... He stumbled backwards at the force of my impact against him but I felt his arms come around my body holding me as tightly as I held him.

"_ROSE_!" I could hear the others yelling behind me as I leapt, then I could feel them trying to pull me away from...my heart and soul...

"Dimitri..." I cried as I buried my face into the crook of his neck. "It's really you..." My hands gripped into his long hair.

"Oh God Roza..." he whispered into my hair.

"Rose, let go!" I could hear Christian yelling at me, but my body wouldn't comply. It had craved the body it clung to for the last twelve months and _nothing_ was going to pull me away now. I leaned backwards as my eyes needed to look at his face, his eyes... my soul needed to know the truth. Was it really him? Our faces were only inches apart and my eyes scanned the face that was now gripped in my hands. Those eyes...they were the same eyes, the nose...a little bent, same lips...longer hair, much longer hair, more scars though. But it _was_ him... it _is_ him...

"It's really you. You're real...you're alive... you're really alive..." I whispered over and over.

"As are you my love." My eyes locked onto his lips and we each had the same thought... each other. I pulled him to me at the same time that he pulled me to him and our lips came together hard. Electricity shot through my body, igniting life once again into my heart and soul as his hands wound into my hair. I knew I was crying as we kissed, I didn't give a shit... I couldn't help it, the emotions that were swirling through me were so strong they couldn't be contained, they just poured out of me. Extreme elation that he was alive, disbelief that he was really here, sorrow for all the time we'd lost... I don't know how long we kissed for but we soon became aware of throats being cleared. Slowly I remembered the mission we were on, my team... Unwillingly, I broke the kiss and looked to my right and saw the smiling faces of the three men around us.

"He's alive..." I whispered as the tears kept falling.

"We can see that." Christian said smiling through his own tears... "Come on, Alberta wants us at the rendezvous point in five minutes.

"Alberta!" I didn't know how she would react to Dimitri, she'd be happy wouldn't she?

"I've already told her." Christian said as Anderson and Marcus made their way up the stairs. "Reunions later, we have to go. Glad to see you're alright Dimitri."

"Me too." He said solemnly then he looked back to me. "As much as I like this...position my love, I think you need to hop down." A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"I can't. I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

"I'm afraid that if I let go, you'll disappear again." I saw him flinch and pain went through his eyes but he pulled me back to him and kissed me again.

"I never said you had to let go, but even if you did...it wouldn't matter because _I'll_ never let you go again." More tears fell as I looked down to his neck and saw the deep bruises and scars of constant feedings.

"I'm so sorry." I said as I touched his neck. "I told them that you wouldn't have just left, but they wouldn't listen..."

"Shh, it's alright. It's all over now, I'm here. I was a fool to ever push you away; I'll _never_ do it again."

I slowly released my legs from around his waist but quickly replaced them with my arms. "I missed you so much." I said as I buried my face into his chest.

"I missed you too." His arms tightened around me and he placed a kiss on the top of my head before leading me up the stairs and back into the house. As we walked out through the front door of the house, Alberta came to a screeching halt halfway up the stairs.

"It's true! You're alive..." she whispered in disbelief.

"It's good to see you too Alberta." She nodded to him and then looked to me with watery eyes.

"I'm so sorry Rose." I knew what she meant but at this point in time I was too angry with her to speak. I'd pleaded with her to send a search party for him; I told her that he wouldn't have just left like that. I'd screamed at both her and Kirova that they were abandoning the best guardian ever and that he needed help but they wouldn't listen to me. When I thought about the fact that he'd spent the last twelve months being fed on by strigoi, being beaten and forced to fight for them, to guard them... It made me sick to my stomach; I couldn't even look at her.

I pushed us both past her and walked down the few front steps and out into the front yard. The whole walk back to the buses, I never released my arms from around him, I didn't know if I'd ever be able to let him go again. A stupid ass grin had attached itself to my face and refused to leave. I kept reaching up to touch him and he kept doing the same to me. Every so often we would stop walking to kiss and stare into each other's eyes... It was like neither one of us believed that this day would ever happen and we wanted to drink each other in as much as possible, just in case it was all a terrible, taunting dream...

I could see by his face that the last year had been hard on him physically; I couldn't imagine how hard it had been mentally and emotionally.

"I never gave up hope that I'd see you again." I said to him. We were now standing next to the buses and the other guardians standing around us were staring at us in disbelief...whether that was at the sudden reappearance of Dimitri or the fact that we couldn't keep our hands and lips off each other, who would know.

"I wish I could say the same thing Roza, but I can't. I couldn't hope...it hurt too much to hope, to think of holding you again." My skin prickled as his fingers glided down the side of my face.

"Well, now you don't have to. You are holding me..." I couldn't stop the smile that pulled at my mouth.

"What?"

"You _are_ holding me..." I said as a tear escaped... "So many nights...I prayed to just...have you hold me...one more time... just long enough so that...I could say sorry." I tried to speak without crying, but the guilt that I'd carried for so long over those words, suddenly held my heart captive.

"Sorry for what?"

"For the last thing I said to you... I was selfish, immature..." He put his finger on my lips and shook his head.

"You have _nothing_ to apologise for Roza. But I do... What you said was true. I _was_ being a coward..." I shook my head and was about to disagree with him but he kept talking. "I _was_ Rose. I should have had the strength to stand tall and proclaim my love for you to the whole world, but instead I cowered to our world's prejudices. That won't happen again." His hands had been on my hips as we spoke, but then he reached around me and lifted me off the ground, then for the first time in more than a year...the most beautiful, heart melting smile spread across his face and he spoke so that everyone could hear. "I love you Rose Hathaway, with every fibre of my being. I have from the moment I laid eyes on you and I will until the day I draw my last breath." Then he kissed me... It was the sort of kiss that probably should have been in private but at that point in time, I couldn't care less... I kissed him back and my heart danced for joy!

8888

**Dimitri...**

On the ride back to HQ, I was aware of the constant stares of those around us, in particularly from Alberta. But I couldn't have cared less; I had the love of my life back again. When I finally found her at the house and I looked into her beautiful eyes again... my heart felt like it was trying to claw its way out of my chest to get to her. The look of disbelief on her face when she saw me... it was like she didn't want to believe it was me. But the moment we touched and she realised I was real... that was... _electric_. I knew that I'd missed her over the last year, but when she jumped into my arms I realised just how much I craved her. So, now I had Rose in my arms again, therefore I had the world. I can't remember how many times over the last year I'd cursed myself for my stupidity in keeping Rose at arm's length while at the academy and the Moroi for their selfish laws. We deserved love and happiness as much as they did, but they refused to allow us that simple right... never again would I let them dictate to me on how I was to live my life...

As the world flew past us out the windows of the bus, memories of the feedings, the beatings, the fights flashed through my mind. The dhampirs under the strigoi's control were forced to fight each other if they wanted to be fed, if we didn't...they'd beat us to near death and then feed on us. If they didn't think we were fighting hard enough, they'd join in and beat us some more... That I could live with, but some of their ideas of 'entertainment' were to make us do things under compulsion, terrible things. We were forced to hunt for them during the day and no matter how much we tried to resist, their compulsion was too strong. Then there were the...other things we were made to do. Those things will forever haunt me.

"Are you alright?" Rose's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I smiled at her and kissed her forehead again, I didn't want anything to mar this day... the day I got my heart back.

"I'm good, don't worry about me."

"Hmm, not possible. I keep waiting to wake up... I don't think I'll be able to shut my eyes for a while. Dimitri?"

"Yeah." I could tell she had a lot of questions and by the look on her face, she either didn't know which one to ask first or she didn't know if she should ask any of them, so I just waited...

"Did you know we were here?" I didn't expect that to be the first question.

"Yes."

"How long?"

"I was patrolling when I saw one of your teams scouting the area and when I saw how many guardians there were and the fact that there were Moroi with them, I knew that a raid was on its way. I thought I saw you but some part of me thought it was just wishful thinking... I was a bit out of it at the time. Then when some of the strigoi didn't come back from hunts, they knew guardians were around and my...keeper...was kept busy. She left me alone long enough for my head to clear somewhat. Then when the raid started I tried to find you but some of the guardians thought...thought that I was with _them_, so I had to fight my way through. When I couldn't find you, I started to believe that seeing you really had been an illusion, but then I saw you walking with the others... I wasn't sure what you'd do at first. I thought that maybe you'd think I was strigoi or under their control but then when you went back to the house to look for the 'forgotten' stake, I knew that you were aware of me following you. That was the only chance I had to...see you, so I went through the cellar doors around the side of the house and was going to come find you...but you found me first. I'd forgotten how hard you can kick..."

"Sorry about that. But I've spent the last year remembering ever lesson you ever taught me... especially the one about never hesitating. Why did it take so long to...?" I knew she was referring to the time I'd spent with the strigoi.

"They had us constantly under compulsion... We had 'orders' for want of a better word, buried deep in our subconscious, if any of us ever tried to escape we would experience the worst pain..." My eyes closed as I remembered the countless times I tried to escape, the pain was...unbelievable, they never needed to shackle us. "And we only ever tried that when we were lucid enough to even _think_ about escaping. We were mostly either too strung out or too weak from the feedings or the lack of food. Sometimes they'd hold off feeding from us for a day or two so that we were able to 'entertain' them with fighting each other or... other things." I saw her grimace just at the implication of something bad, I doubt if she could handle it if she knew what they really did to us.

"Thank you, for telling me. I won't ask you to relive that ever again." It was only after we stopped talking that I realised that the bus was quiet, everyone had been listening to what I'd said. I could see they were working hard to keep their masks in place, they all felt for what I'd gone through; one however was struggling to contain her grief...Alberta.

We pulled up outside the place that was being used as headquarters and everyone stood up to leave the bus.

"Rose." I looked up to see Alberta standing in front of me. "Can you take Dimitri to the doctor to get checked out please?"

"Certainly."

"Thank you." She said before looking back to me. "I know that you're probably tired Dimitri, but we're going to have to talk to you...about what happened. After seeing the doctor, Rose can take you to one of the bathrooms to get cleaned up and find you something to eat if you'd like."

"Of course Alberta, thank you."

"If you're up to it, come see me later." I know that this is something that has to happen, so it's probably better to get it over and done with.

"Can that wait 'til the morning?" Rose asked.

"Yes, of course. I am sorry Dimitri, more than you'll ever know. I'm really happy to see you alive." All I could do was nod as I know how upset she is, I can see it in her eyes and it's taking her a lot to keep her guardian mask on.

As soon as we stepped off the bus, I heard an almost ear piercing scream, images flashed through my mind of the torture that others had endured at the hands of the strigoi, I turned in panic but realised what was going on when I saw a familiar face running towards me.

"DIMKA!" I smiled as I saw Tasha and a second later she threw herself at me...

"Tasha... It's good to see you again." Regaining my balance, I looked over Tasha's shoulder to see Rose with an odd look on her face.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for taking so long to update... I didn't realise it had been so long.  
I'm glad that people are liking this story, I don't know why it popped into my head! hehehe  
Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing everyone.  
Sandy**

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**Chapter four**

"I kept hoping and praying that you were still alive." Tasha said as she held my face in her hands. "I can't believe you're here." She went to pull me down so that she could kiss me but I grabbed her wrists and stood up out of her reach. "What's wrong Dimitri, are you alright?"

"I'm fine Tasha, really, but I have a few things that I need to take care of right now and then I need to spend some time with Roza...I've missed her a great deal." I said as I looked to Rose, she seemed happier by my words, but I knew what she was thinking. Before our last fight, Tasha had asked me to be her guardian, amongst other things. I'd turned Tasha down but she was disappointed and a little put out after I told her that I had feelings for someone else. She tried to convince me to change my mind, but soon gave up when she realised that I _wasn't_ going to change my mind. I think it was Tasha's offer that sparked Rose's insecurities about my feelings for her.

"Oh yes...of course, what about I see you after you've spent time with Rose then? Maybe after dinner?"

"Umm, I don't think so Tasha, Rose and I have a _lot_ to talk about and I'm pretty sure it's going to take a while, but we'll catch up with you tomorrow. It really is good to see you again and thank you for your prayers, it means a lot to me. And Tasha, thank you for helping in the fight." I bent forward and kissed her cheek. I moved away from her and held out my hand to Rose.

"Dimitri..." Tasha called behind me. I turned to see her looking at our interlocked hands. "I'm glad you're back." She said with a smile. Then she walked over to Rose and put a hand on her shoulder. "I couldn't be happier for you both. I'm glad that he's obviously found someone he loves."

"Thank you Tasha." Rose said with a relaxed sigh.

The doctor gave me a quick going over and took some blood. Strangely, this made me feel rather uncomfortable. I'd never had an issue with this before, but now... I had a bit of an aversion to someone taking my blood, no matter what the reason was. It was only Rose's presence and strength that got through it without breaking someone's neck. As we left the makeshift treatment rooms, Rose ordered some food be brought up to her room for me and then she led me up the stairs. When we got to her room, she fiddled with her keys before turning to look at me.

"I can get you a room of your own if you'd like a little privacy."

"No. I've been away from you long enough." I watched as her face blushed slightly and a small smile pulled at her mouth before she turned back to the door and unlocked it. The room was large and comforting, much nicer than I'd seen in a long time; Moroi certainly knew how to decorate... I imagined that the plush deep blue carpet would feel wonderful under bare feet. The sofa looked so soft, but what caught my attention was the bed... It had been a long time since I'd slept on a bed and this one certainly looked soft. I hadn't realised I'd been daydreaming until Rose touched my forearm.

"Here's a towel, go and have a shower and take as long as you'd like. I'll be here waiting for you when you get out." I nodded and then walked to the bathroom door that was near where the bed was. As I went to shut the bathroom door, I couldn't help but take in her beauty once again; I'd missed her so much. I turned on the water so that it had time to heat up and then stripped off. This was another thing that had been denied to us while held captive. The closest thing we ever got to bathing was when they'd throw buckets of cold water at us at all times of the day and night; awake or not. I stepped in and smiled... the hot water was like liquid silk and it felt wonderful. I don't know how long I was lost to the cleansing water, but soon Rose was knocking on the door.

"Are you alright in there?" she asked me. Was I? It was then that I recognised the lump in my throat and the silent tears that had been falling without restraint as the relief of knowing I was free of those...demons had finally come to the surface. I heard the bathroom door open... "Dimitri?" I wanted to say I was fine, but I didn't trust myself not to crumble if I spoke, I could feel my throat getting tighter with emotion. I knew I needed her so I reached my hand out through the curtain hoping she'd take it and to my relief...she did. Without hesitation, she stepped into the shower with me, clothes and all. She looked into my eyes and took two steps towards me. As she reached up to touch my face, I pulled her body into mine and held her tight as I tried to pull myself together. I buried my face into her neck and breathed in her scent; the scent that I'd tried so hard to remember, and I found peace...she was my life raft out of the horrors of my memories. Nothing was said as my soundless tears continued to fall, she just held me in her arms as tightly as I held her, stoking my hair and silently giving me her strength. After some time, the pain in my chest started to recede, my breathing slowed and my muscles relaxed.

"Thank you Roza." I said as I released her from my embrace. Looking into her eyes, I saw that she had cried her own tears; instinct made me lean forward and kiss them away. I then looked down and noticed she was ringing wet. "You're saturated."

"I don't mind." She said with a smile. "Although, I think we should probably get out before we use up all the hot water." I saw her look at my body, at all the scars that now crisscrossed my skin and I knew she'd felt the ones on my back when she held me, but she didn't say anything. She reached past me and turned off the taps, but before she could move away I took her face in my hands and kissed her. I could feel her smile against my lips as she let out a contented sigh, then pulled back and stared at me. I didn't know if she wanted to say something or just wanted to look at me, but I saw so much loved in her eyes. Without saying anything she then turned around and walked out of the shower, pulling me with her. I grabbed the towel that she'd given me before and wrapped it around my waist but nearly stopped breathing when I looked up to see Rose had taken off her shirt and was in the process of getting rid of her soaked trousers. She now stood in front of me in her lacy underwear and memories of my hands caressing her sensual body in one of our many make-out sessions back at the academy popped into my mind. I didn't realise I'd moved until I found myself standing an inch away from her.

"My memories were never this good." I said as I drank her appearance in.

"Mine either." She grinned as her eyes went down my body. But before I could act on the feelings building inside me, she spoke again. "I heard them bring the food in before; we should see what they brought for you." I nodded and followed her out into the room. I really had to fight for my self control as I stood there only in a towel, Rose's amazing body in nothing but see-through lace underwear and a bed not three feet away. This reality was extremely close to the many dreams that got me through some of the darker nights over the last year... except in those dreams, I didn't hold myself back. She went over to the chest of drawers and got out some dry clothes.

"Alberta has sent up some clothes for you as well, they're on the sofa. I'll go change in the bathroom."

"Okay." _Okay...? What in the hell was that? That's all I could come up with after a year of craving her? _She walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her so I walked over to the sofa to get dressed. The smell of the food was overpowering...after what I'd been given to eat lately, this was food fit for a king... I'd only managed to get my trousers on when it all got too much... The smell of steak, hamburgers and pizza was making my jaws ache.

I picked up a slice of pizza and bit into it; the zesty tomato sauce assaulted my long dormant tastebuds, I closed my eyes and moaned in delight. I smiled when I opened my eyes to find Rose standing in front of me...grinning.

"Nice huh?" She asked me.

"You have no idea..."

"Oh, I think I do. Why do you think they even have pizza on the menu here?" I couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of it being her favourite food, along with brownies and donuts... Remembering this, I looked down at the food cart and sure enough... there on the second shelf was a pile of donuts and brownies, it made me laugh...something I haven't done in a long time.

888888

**Rose...**

Hearing his laugh again after all this time was like music to my ears. But images of his wet, naked body in the shower kept flashing through my mind as I watched him eat; the fact that he was still shirtless wasn't making it any easier to focus of the food. When his hand came out through the shower curtain before, I didn't know what to do. I knew damn well that he'd have no clothes on in there and I really didn't know what to expect once I joined him...could I control myself, could he? But when I looked into his eyes and saw the pain in them, my heart broke for him. It physically hurt me to see him in so much pain... I reached out to him and when he pulled me into him, I held him just as tightly; I needed to somehow let him know that I would be there to hold him together if he ever felt like he was falling apart. I don't think I'll ever know the full extent of what they did to him, I just prayed that he'd let me be there to help him through it. I didn't realise that I'd been crying until he kissed my tears away.

We spent the next hour talking while we ate; he wanted to know about everything that happened since he went missing. I had to say step by step the events of my trials at the academy and the graduation. When I told him that I'd scored the highest score of any novice at St Vlad's, his face beamed with pride. "I always knew you'd be the best."

"I made sure that everyone knew that I was only as good as I was because of you. Without you, I wouldn't even be here. The whole time out in the field doing the trial... I heard your voice in my head. Those Zen lessons kept repeating over and over, then funnily enough, you even went crook at me when I stuffed up at one point..." Remembering that point in time made me wince in embarrassment. "Although, I actually worried myself a bit when I started to argue back..." That comment made him choke on the mouthful of food and then proceed to fall into fits of laughter. When he calmed down, he looked at me with happy tears and the he stood up and walked over to me.

"I have missed you so much. I honestly don't know how I lived for twelve months without you." He took my face in his hands and bent forward to kiss me. It was soft at first but then it quickly started to build, he somehow pulled me up from my chair without me noticing too. I remember this scenario playing out in my mind so many times, even before he went missing, but afterwards...they just got more regular and intense, and to have it actually be happening now, my heart was in overdrive. One of his hands went behind my neck and his fingers knotted into my hair while his other hand found its way to my back and pulled me tightly into his body.

I soon found myself wrapped around him like a warm blanket, my body melting snugly around his. "I love you Dimitri... I always have." I said against his lips. I hadn't realised that we'd been moving until I felt myself being lowered backwards onto the bed. My hands found their way under his shirt and once again got themselves acquainted with his glorious body; only now... it was covered in scars. It wasn't long before his kisses started getting harder, needier... his hands were starting to grip me tighter. As his mouth left mine and made its way down my neck, his hands tore at my clothes... Something wasn't right... Dimitri had always been nothing but gentle with me, this... this was not how it should be. Even though I've never been with anyone before, I knew this wasn't right.

"Dimitri..." I said quietly. I yelled out when he bit the muscle between my neck and shoulder. "Ow... Dimitri! No..." I started to push against him as his hands got rougher and my mind was now completely clear of the fog of passion from earlier. I tried to look into his eyes, to see what was happening... his face was scowling like he was wrapped in a memory he couldn't break out of. I knew something bad was happening, I had to break him out of it... I pushed against him harder but that only made him more forceful. So I did the only thing I could think of... I somehow got my arm free and elbowed him in the face. This snapped him out of whatever trance he was in and when he realised what had just happened, his face turned horrified.

"Oh God!" He whispered to himself. He jumped up off the bed and almost ran to the furtherest wall with his back to me. I got up and slowly walked to where he now stood trembling. I knew that he was aware of me behind him, but he made no attempt to turn to face me.

"Dimitri, look at me." He didn't move, he just shook his head as he looked at the floor. "Please..."

"I can't... I'm so sorry... I... I can't..." I could tell by his voice that he was only just holding himself together and I wondered if he'd let me touch him. I closed the distance between us and gentle put my hand against his back, when he didn't move I slowly wrapped my arms around him and layed my head against his back. He tensed at first but then relaxed...slightly.

"I'm here for you." I said softly. I knew that there would be things that had happened during his time with the strigoi that would have a negative effect in his life now, and it tore at me to think of what had happened to make him lose control like this... Dimitri never lost control...well, almost. After a few minutes he turned in my arms to face me.

"I'm sorry Roza. I thought we could go back... I thought I could forget and just move on, but I'm a danger to you. My memories could make me do things..."

"I never expected that there wouldn't be scars Dimitri."

"But I could hurt you... I nearly did. If you hadn't..." I stopped him by putting a finger to his lips.

"Shh... I want to ask you a question and before you answer it, I want you to honestly think about it alright?" He nodded solemnly. "If it had been me who had spent the last year with those... If it had been me who had experienced what you've lived through..." He squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced at my words. "Would you turn your back on me now or would you do everything you could to help me come back to you, no matter what I did to push you away?" When he opened his eyes and looked at me again, I could see him seriously thinking over my words.

"I wouldn't let you go."

"And neither will I. My heart is bound to you, it's physically impossible for me to walk away. I'll never demand that you to tell what happened, but if and when you're ready to, I will be here for you to talk to if that's what you want." He continued to hold my shoulders as he looked deep into my eyes and I could tell he was battling with himself over wanting to tell me something or to keep it secret.

"One of their favourite things to do to us was to compel us into... hurting... females."


	5. Chapter 5

**Well, I'm finally updating! :-) Thanks for being patient. It feels weird not thinking of anything for Alternate Universe!  
But I thought I'd let everyone know that I've had a lot of requests for a sequel, but I think what I may do is  
do a large prologue type of chapter that will answer your questions about the baby etc...  
What do you all think about that?**

**As for this chapter, it's a little sad, but I needed to get this out so that Rose's feeling and actions can be later understood.  
You'll see... ;-) Anyway, here 'tis... I hope you enjoy it.  
Sandy**

* * *

**Chapter five**

This was the one time in my life that I was thankful for learning how to keep a stoic guardian face while my insides were breaking. The torturous look in Dimitri's face was ripping my heart into shreds, but for him I had to stay strong. I had to be his rock. I couldn't afford for him to think that I thought any less of him for what he'd just told me. I could see he was waiting for some sort of reaction from me, maybe to recoil from him, run away, be angry, disgusted... Instead, I reached both of my hands up to his face and wiped my thumbs over his tortured eyes.

"Nothing... will ever make me see you as anything else but the man I love. I don't want to make it seem like I'm lessening what happened to you, but I know you Dimitri, I know the man you were and still are. So... I understand what it would have done to you when they _forced_ you to do the things they did. But just know that I will never look at you with anything other than pride and admiration for both surviving what you did and for surviving long enough for me to find you."

"But how can you stand there and say that after what I just told you?"

"You want to know how? Answer me two questions... I'm gathering they compelled you? " He nodded his head slowly. "If they hadn't compelled you, would you still have done it?"

"NO..." he said instantly.

"That's how I can stand here and say that I admire you. Dimitri, you are and always have been the most honourable man I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. My faith in you is as strong as the faith I have in the knowledge that sun will set in a few hours."

I watched his face as he struggled to accept my words, the pain of what he'd endured over the last year was deep and I knew it would take more than one conversation for him to forgive himself and rid the demons from his memories. We stood and stared into each other's eyes for a while, taking comfort in the knowledge that we were really together again, but as a single pain filled tear fell from his eye, I reached around his waist and pulled him into me. Even with everything that had just happened, what we were sharing right now was heaven.

"Come with me." I said as I grabbed his hand in mine. I walked towards the bed and when he saw where we were heading he suddenly came to a stop.

"I don't think we should..."

"Just follow me." I turned back around and he let me lead him over to the bed. I climbed up and went to the far side and leant my back against the headboard while he just stood beside it. "Lay down..." I said as I patted the bed beside my legs. His brow creased as he decided if he would join me, but it didn't take him long to give in. He climbed up and he somehow managed to wrap his arms around my waist and lay his head on my lap at the same time. I guess that's one advantage of having long arms, but it didn't look very comfortable to me. He laid there in silence for what seemed like an hour or more with me just stroking with his hair, tracing the fine scars on the side of his face with my fingers.

"It was only you..." he said in a voice filled with emotion.

"What was only me?"

"You were the only reason I didn't just kill myself, the only reason I didn't go mad..." I didn't know what to say to that. On one hand it broke my heart to think that a strong man such as Dimitri would even consider killing himself but on the other hand it filled my heart to know that his love for me was strong enough to endure what he did and for as long as he did.

"Well I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere so you don't have to keep strong anymore, just heal and if you need any extra strength to do so... just lean on me." His arms tightened around my waist as he turned his face into my stomach. I looked down and could see that his eyelashes were wet, I didn't realise that he'd been crying. But this was a good thing, he had twelve months of pain, guilt, fear, anxiety, loss, shame and anger built up around his heart...this had to come out or it would eat him up.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I do remember waking up. Hearing him screaming beside me was the worst sound I've ever heard. It was pain... a scream of pain. I shot out of bed ready for anything but after a quick scan of the empty room, I looked down at Dimitri and he was holding his head in a vice like grip and he was writhing on the bed. I tried to grab a hold of him but his thrashing was violent.

"Dimitri! Wake up! Dimitri..." I tried yelling at him, but his screams kept coming. It was only a matter of seconds before my bedroom door burst open and four guardians ran in.

"What's going on?" Guardian Elmsworth asked.

"I don't know... he's in pain. Help me hold him down." Between the five of us we were able to grab a hold of him, but he was speaking Russian so I had no idea what he was saying. "Does anyone understand him?" I asked.

"Yeah, I do... He's saying he has to go back." _Go back...? Why? _Then it hit me... the command that had been planted into the captives minds. At least one of the strigoi must have escaped.

"Hold him." I said. I quickly grabbed my phone and hit #2 speed dial for Alberta, Lissa was #1... After two rings she answered...

"Rose?"

"Alberta... We didn't get them all."

"What do you mean?" I could tell by her voice that she was running, probably to my room; it was a wonder there weren't more people in here by now with all the screaming going on. "Who's screaming?"

"It's Dimitri... remember when he told us about the mind control thing they had on the captives? Well, I think whoever we missed is calling them back." I could hear the soft beep at my ear indicating that someone was trying to get hold of Alberta on her phone.

"Hang on Rose, I've got another call. I'm nearly at your room." With that she hung up. It was only a matter of maybe ten seconds later she came running into my room. "Your theory is correct. All the other captured dhampirs are all screaming in pain."

"What do we do?" I asked felling helpless.

"Rose?" I only just heard Christian's voice over Dimitri's yelling and he looked really confused as to what was happening. "What's going on?" I gave him a quick rundown of what Dimitri had told us in the bus on the way back here, all the while his eyes never left Dimitri, then his face changed like he'd thought of something.

"What?" I asked him.

"Well, I was going to surprise you in the morning cause I thought you'd be...busy tonight, but I rang Lissa to let her know about him..." he said nodding in Dimitri's direction, "...and she was able to get a helicopter flight here, she's downstairs... Adrian too. Do you think they could undo the...command thingy they put in their heads?"

I looked over to Alberta and she just shrugged. I opened myself up to the bond; I'd had my walls up since getting here. It was something that I did when I went out on a raid as I really didn't need to be pulled into Lissa's head while fighting. Sure enough, she was in a bedroom, Christian's no doubt, sitting on a sofa watching TV.

"Call her, ask her to come up quickly, anything is worth a shot." He got out his phone and asked her to meet him at the top of the staircase that led up here to the guardian wing. Unfortunately, the bond was still only one way; otherwise I would have asked her myself.

_Rose...I'm so happy you have him back. _I could feel the happiness flow through the bond, but she was also worried about what was going on and if she could do anything about it. It was the longest five minutes of my life waiting for them to return. Watching Dimitri in so much pain was tearing at my heart...give me strigoi any day; those I can fight. Liss smiled to me as she walked in but she went straight to Dimitri's side.

After Dimitri went missing, everyone tried to help me out of my...misery, but the pain and sadness of my aura got too much for Adrian to be around after a while, so he went to Russia to a family estate for a while. His father had sent him on a short business trip to St Petersburg while he was there and that is where he met up with another spirit user and her shadow-kissed husband. Oksana and Mark had come back to Court with Adrian when he returned and had been working with them on charming objects (which were a Godsend against the ghosts) and touching other people's minds. This is what Lissa was attempting to do at the moment.

I could feel the joy and happiness of spirit well up inside of her, I could feel her mind reaching out to Dimitri's while her healing powers went to work on relieving his pain. Her healing abilities were really strong now; she hardly had to work at it anymore, sometimes her magic would heal without her even meaning to, it would simply happen when she would feel empathy for someone who was or looked in pain. Because touching other people's minds wasn't her specialty, as well as being something new to her, she had to work a little harder at that.

Dimitri's cries stopped suddenly but his eyes closed as his body fell into exhaustion; sweat covered his body and his breathing started to slow, but he still didn't seem all that peaceful. I felt disappointment come from Lissa so I knew that she wasn't happy with the result.

"The...command... has been planted really deep in his mind and it feels like there's something blocking my attempts to get rid of it as well, I'm just not strong enough... maybe Oksana would have more luck. On the way up I asked Adrian to go help with the others."

"Is he still in any pain Liss?" I asked almost afraid of the answer. She looked down at him and I felt her magic spike as she brushed his mind.

"Not that I can tell."

"Thank you so much." I wrapped my arms around her neck as my breathing hitched. All of the emotions that I'd shoved down deep so that I'd be strong for Dimitri were starting to rise to the surface. I didn't know how much longer I could hold them in... I'd felt them start to bubble as soon as I knew she was here, she had become my rock since losing Dimitri.

"It's alright Rose. I'm here now." She said softly as she stroked my hair.

"They hurt him... they hurt him so much. They tortured him body, mind and soul... The things they made him do Liss..." My voice started to crack and I suddenly realised that I'd started to get louder too and knew the others would be able to hear me so I anxiously looked around the room and found that we were alone. I was confused at first...

"They left..." she explained, I didn't even see them go.

"I don't know how to help him." I said as I looked at him. "Liss... the things they made him do... I don't know if he'll ever be able to forgive himself. I know how strong his conviction to do no wrong was, I know what this would be doing to him." I could feel her compassion and sadness for Dimitri and me and for the situation we now find ourselves in.

"All I can say Rose, is just be there for him. He's obviously told you some of what happened, so he must feel that he can trust you; trust your strength to handle this knowledge. So whatever you've been doing is obviously what he needs from you right now..." She squeezed my hand to show her support and I really wanted to tell her some of what he'd told me, the weight of it all was heavy on my conscience, but I couldn't betray his trust in me... I didn't know if he'd want anyone else to know all the gory details, so for now... I would bare this on my own.

"I wish I could just take away all of his pain... like I do when I take away your darkness; just suck it all away..." A steady stream of hot tears fell unopposed from my eyes as I spoke. "He's been through so much, I hate seeing him have to go through even more." We were now sitting in chairs that we'd pulled up close to the bed and I watched him...sleep... Others may not see it, but I could tell that whatever he was doing now, sleep or just plain unconscious... it wasn't in complete peace. "I can't tell you how many nights I prayed to be able to see his face again, to hold him, to kiss him, to tell him how much I loved him... and now here he is. Did Christian tell you what happened?"

"Not all of it."

"I'd felt a presence following us outside as we were walking back to the busses, I knew it wasn't strigoi and I knew that I had to go back to the house we'd been in before. Once there, I heard a noise in the basement so I went down to see what was going on. It didn't take long before I felt someone come up behind me so I spun around and kicked out... when he turned around and looked up at me from the floor, I thought I was dreaming, that I'd spent _so_ long wanting him back, that I'd imagined his face on the body of whoever I'd just knocked down. The fact that it was the anniversary of when he disappeared just seemed to make that assumption plausible." I had to stop and pull myself together before going on... "But then he spoke... he said my name... and for a split second – the whole world stopped. I wanted with _every_ fibre of my being, for it to really be him, but at the same time, I didn't want to hope because if it wasn't... I would break all over again." I finally tore my eyes away from him to look at Liss.

"I reached up to touch him, but I stopped myself, scared that the illusion would just disappear and take what was left of my sanity with it, but then he touched my hand. I can't describe what I felt when I realised that he was real... he wasn't an illusion, it really was Dimitri standing right in front of me..." my voice was but a whisper at this point, and I swallowed hard as my throat was almost closed as the memory of the moment resurfaced.

"You don't need to describe it Rose..." she said as she held my hand. "I knew something had happened; I didn't know what. I was in a late night meeting with the queen when I felt this surge of emotion; it literally took my breath away... I couldn't breathe and I knew that something big was happening. I kept ringing Christian's phone but he didn't pick up, then I tried Alberta's but she didn't answer either, I was almost going insane, then about twenty minutes later Christian rang and told me about Dimitri. I started jumping up and down and squealing... the queen thought I'd lost my mind." The image of what she described made me let out a short laugh. "That's when I organised the flight to come here."

"Who said the bond was only one way..." This was more of a statement than a question. I may have been the shadow-kissed one, but when it really mattered, Liss knew when I needed her. We sat there for a few minutes in silence, just staring at now found, missing piece of my soul. A soft knock at the door a few minutes later broke us both out of our reverie and Liss got up to answer it.

"Hey babe." Christian said with a kiss. "How is he?"

"Asleep for now."

"How are you Rose?" I couldn't answer just at the moment so I just shrugged my shoulders and then turned my attention back to Dimitri. I didn't hear what Christian had said to Liss, but she came up to me a few seconds later and said that Adrian needed help downstairs.

"Do you want me to send someone up to stay with you?" She asked.

"No, we'll be right. Just keep you phone on you." With a nod, they left the room. I took a deep breath and then went over to the other side of the bed and climbed back in beside Dimitri. I didn't know what to do at first but then I decided to hold him. I pulled his right arm out from his side and replaced it with my body; resting my head on his chest. With my enhanced hearing, I could hear the steady beat of his heart. I laid my arm over him and hugged him tight.

"I'll hold you together; I won't ever let you break. We'll get through this no matter how long it takes."


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm so, so sorry I've taken so long to update. I promise I won't take as long next time.  
Thank you all so much for your reviews, I'm glad you're enjoying this story. I really appreciate the time you guys  
take to give me some feedback. Is there anything you'd all like to see happen in this story? If so, let me know.**

**I'm thinking about doing a story that is solely made up from suggestions from all different readers, what do you all think of that?  
It could get rather interesting don't ya think? Anyway, let me know what you think and any suggestions you may have for a plot.**

**Anyway... on with the story...**

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**Chapter Six**

That was one rough night – for everyone. Adrian and Lissa were unable to break any of the 'mind commands' in the other captured guardians and humans so they put them in the same sleep that Dimitri was in and they were exhausted by the end. They'd fed afterwards, but it still had taken a lot out of them. We all knew that none of them could wake until we found the strigoi so we had to work out how we were going to achieve that.

"We need to wake someone up." Said Christian.

"No... We can't." I said. "You didn't see the pain..."

"Yes I did Rose. I saw it in all of these guys here." I rubbed my temples to dull the pain that was starting to build in my brain. I didn't get much sleep before the raid; if any really, so I'd been up for nearly 48 hours. The fight had been hard, and then – Dimitri... then everything after we got back. Now this... My eyes started to close of their own accord but I had to stay awake. I looked over to one of the house staff and asked for a strong coffee.

"You need to sleep Rose." Liss said concerned.

"I will, just not right now. Why would we wake anyone up knowing what would happen if we did?" I asked Christian.

"Well, whoever has a hold on them is obviously calling out for anyone left alive. If someone goes back, they'll lead us straight to the one we need to kill. It's the fastest way... and you know it." He was right but I didn't want to put anyone through the pain that I saw Dimitri go through last night.

_He makes a good point Rose. But if we do this... who would we wake? _Liss said silently. I looked around at the unconscious people around me... who would I do that to?

"Should I try to dream walk Dimitri?" Adrian asked. "Just to see what he thinks, also to make sure he's okay. He's probably wondering why he's not waking up." I really did want to know if he was okay, but I also knew that if Adrian told him about the plan to wake someone up, that he would volunteer and I didn't want that to happen.

"That would be good." I said. "Come on, I'll take you up." We stood up and walked over to the stairs that led up to where my room was. When we finally got to my door, I turned to face Adrian before I opened it.

"Adrian?"

"Yes little dhampir?"

"When you go in, with Dimitri – just make sure he's okay. Let him know what happened if he asks but don't ask him about waking someone up if he's not coping."

"Why? Isn't that why I'm doing this?"

"You know as well as I do that he'll volunteer. He's been through so much; I don't want him to go through any more."

"You're right, I _do_ think he would volunteer but I also think that if he found out that you stopped me from asking him and sent someone else in his place... he'd be pissed."

"Yes, he will be. But after everything I've been through in the last year, I'm now going to be selfish. I want him here... alive and with me and I don't want him to experience any more of the pain that I saw him in last night." Adrian stared into my eyes as he thought through what I'd told him then he sighed in resignation.

"Alright Rose." He nodded. "I'll go and see if he's okay first, then I'll come back and you can decide what to do from there." I nodded and then opened the door to my room. Dimitri still laid where I'd left him hours ago and the guardian who'd watched over him when I went downstairs stood to leave.

"Thank you for watching him." I said to him before he disappeared. Adrian walked over to the chairs that Liss and I had been sitting in earlier and got comfortable. He closed his eyes and the now familiar concentrating look crossed over his features. I stood watching them for a while but when Adrian didn't wake up, I took that as a positive sign that he'd made contact with Dimitri. A few minutes later Liss and Christian walked in.

"Well that looks positive." Liss said. I just nodded as I just wanted Adrian to wake up and tell me he was alright. Almost as soon as that thought came into my mind, Adrian's eyes opened. He looked at me at first and then at the others before coming back to me.

"Well?" I asked tentatively.

"He's not in pain anymore, so he wanted me to say thank you to you Liss..." and then looking at me he said, "...he asked me to tell _you_ that he's sorry for everything that he's putting you through...and that you had to see him like that." I shook my head at the realisation that no matter how much it seemed that he'd changed, he was still the same deep down. He always thought of others before himself... hence why I didn't want him knowing about Christian's plan. "But he knew that you wouldn't have let me go to him just to say hi..." I knew what he was going to say...

"You told him?" I asked scrunching up my face.

"Hey... he's very convincing. He pulled it out of me."

"You're the big spirit user Adrian, you could have just left... you didn't have to tell him." He just looked at me with one eyebrow lifted as if to say... 'Yeah right!'. "So...?"

"He said that the only way they will stop the pain is if they all go back; they know how many are alive. Somehow the commands in their minds are like a tracking beacon of sorts. So even if we only risked waking one of them up, the pain wouldn't stop until they all returned."

"How does he know this?" Lissa asked.

"Apparently a few months back they staged a revolt of sorts. Some of them that hadn't been fed from for a while were able to fashion some wooden stakes, which gave them a few minutes run time. Once the strigoi woke up and got the 'pseudo' stakes out of their chests, they put the pain into effect. Dimitri wasn't one of the ones who'd escaped but he watched as four of the six came back. They tried to say that the other two killed themselves rather than return, but the strigoi just laughed and said that they knew they were still alive. They just dialled up the pain until the last two returned. The strigoi kept the six in pain for the next day to teach them a lesson." I felt sick thinking about anyone living through 24 hours of the pain I saw Dimitri in.

"So we need to wake them all up?" He just nodded slowly. I knew that they couldn't live in an eternal sleep, we had to wake them up eventually, but that also meant that we would have to let them return to the strigoi. "Okay, if that's our only option then we have to work out a plan. We have to work out how we are going get them away from the strigoi once they're there. Adrian, go back to him and tell him that... we're going to work this out and when we wake him a plan will be ready. Tell him – I love him, and we'll meet you downstairs when you're done." He nodded and closed his eyes, then went back to Dimitri. "Come on, we don't have a lot of time." I said to the others.

For the next hour or two we went through all different plans of attack with the other guardians. One plan was to replace some of the captives with guardians so that they could relay their position, but we couldn't risk that they would sense it was a trick or that the 'undercover' guardians would find themselves surrounded by strigoi and those under their compulsion. We ended up agreeing on tracking devices on all captives. Dr Ivanov planted the devices just under the skin of each of the captives in previous cuts that covered their bodies. This way, if they were checked, it wouldn't look like anything had been done to them...we hoped. We'd follow at a safe distance and then wait for the go ahead to attack. We added a second sub-dermal device into Dimitri; a small device that he could press when it was safe for us to move in for the attack.

"I don't know if I can do this." I said. I could feel the panic starting to rise inside. "I don't know if I can let him walk out of here without me."

"I know Rose." Liss said in understanding. "But if he doesn't go, he'll either have to stay asleep forever or go through even more pain than before because they've dialled it up a notch." I knew she was right, but I just got him back, how in the hell was I supposed to let him go again; even if it was only temporary. "I thought about something before... Before I wake them up, I'm going to plant my own...command. I'm going to give them a 'word signal' and once you get to wherever the strigoi are holding up, you say the word and the captives should all go back to sleep. We know that the strigoi have used them before to fight for them, we don't want that to happen again. Once you arrive, I'm expecting that the strigoi will use the captives as the first line of defence, knowing you'll do everything you can _not_ to kill them, which will take longer than just staking them."

"This will give them more time to either run or kill us..." I said filling in the rest of Lissa's thoughts.

"Yeah, so if you do engage any of the captives, just say the word and they should go back to this state..." she said indicating to the sleeping guardians and humans around us. "I want to wake each one up before they're all let go, to make sure that my command works. I know it's risky and they'll be in pain for a bit, but we have to make sure before you have to fight them and find it won't work and then have to kill them." I nodded in agreement. So for the next two hours Liss and Adrian went to each captive in their sleep; told them what was about to happen, planted the code word and woke them up. At first their screaming was heartbreaking, but as each one went back to sleep, we were more and more confident that we would succeed in our plan. Finally we got to Dimitri. Liss wanted me to wait outside when we woke him up, but I couldn't... I had to be there for him and I had to be the one who said the codeword, I had to know that he would go to sleep in the field, keeping him safe. Lissa being the smart woman she is used a word that had no rhyming sound as the codeword... 'Orange'. I nodded and then waited as Adrian closed his eyes and went to Dimitri.

"What did he say?" I asked him when he opened his eyes.

"He said 'let's get this show on the road'." I had to laugh at that... Liss looked down at Dimitri's sleeping form and planted the codeword and I braced myself for when he would wake. We knew the instant he was awake as hands flew to his head; as happened with the others, and he started screaming again.

"Orange." I yelled. Relief flooded into me as I saw his body fall back to sleep. This was going to be hard. We now knew that Lissa's codeword would work so all that was left to do now was to get the captives as close to the housing estate that we'd just battled in and then wake them up.

_Calm down Rose... This will work._

_I hope so Liss. I can't lose him again; I wouldn't survive that pain for a second time._

_You won't. _With everything going on, I hadn't been listening to the silent soft hum of Lissa's voice in the back of her mind. She started doing this when she had something going on in her mind that she didn't want me to know about. She knew if she spoke aloud in her own mind when she was thinking of something else, I couldn't get a read on it.

_What are you trying to hide Liss?_

_Nothing –why? _

_I can hear you talking over your thoughts. _Without answering she just walked away while still hiding something from me. _I'll find out eventually Liss..._ I yelled at her. I could feel her amusement flow through the bond so I knew she wasn't going to tell me. Nearly all the captives were now on the buses; Dimitri was the last to be taken. Eddie and I each had one of his arms draped over our shoulders but it was awkward because we were different heights and Dimitri was big and heavy! We soon had him on the bus; his head in my lap. Lissa and Adrian made a big fuss over coming with us and as hard as I tried to stop them, they were now sitting in the seats in front of me. I told Christian that if he left her side even for a microsecond I would personally skin him alive and then hand him over to strigoi myself! He just laughed and flicked a little fire bud at me. Guardian Marcus stayed with them as Tasha teamed up with Anderson to guard Adrian.

"How are you holding up Rose?" Alberta asked me.

"Ask me that question later when this is all over and done with." She nodded with a half smile, knowing how nervous I was. "He'll be okay."

"I hope you're right Alberta. I can't lose him again."

"I've asked two more fire users to and two of our strongest water users to come help guard Adrian and Lissa. I know that you wouldn't be able to concentrate properly if you were worried about them." She knew me so well.

"Thanks Alberta, that does make me feel a lot better." She gave a quick nod and then walked back to where she was sitting before. I looked down at Dimitri's beautiful face and stroked his hair as we drove; I studied every line, every scar on his face committing them all to memory. "Come back to me..." I whispered to him before bending forward and kissing his soft lips. The bus turned to the left and I knew we were just outside the estate... this was as far as we could go, it was now time to wake them up and follow at a distance. It was now time to end this...once and for all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi Everyone, Sorry for taking so long to update, but I've had more than a week of migranes and bad headaches...  
Hopefully they're over with for a while. Anyway, thank you to everyone who had reviewed this story, I'm glad that you all seem to be  
enjoying it. I have 48 favourites and 54 alerts and I've had 3,648 hits in 21 days! :-) Woo Hoo!  
I'd love some more reviews though... Let me know what you all think, good, bad, average?**

**Well, on with the story and I'll try to make sure to update sooner.  
Sandy**

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**Chapter Seven**

The bus pulled up to a stop and for the first time in my life I felt true panic well up inside of me. As I looked down at Dimitri's face as he laid on my lap, I realised that the only sounds I could hear was the thumping of my heart and the pulse of blood in my eardrums. Somewhere in my mind I was aware that my hands clutched at his shirt like it was the only thing between my continued survival or me falling into an abyss of despair...

"Rose..."

I could feel my insides shaking, my breathing had become ragged and my muscles felt like rubber bands that were pulled to their limit; ready to snap at the slightest touch. The memory of the pain of those first few months after his disappearance flooded my mind and gripped my heart... how was I going to let him go again?

"Rose..."

Each second, each breath I took, brought me closer to the inevitable moment that he would wake up in agony and I would have to stand and watch him turn his back to me and run away...to _them_. I could feel the hand of panic and remembered pain reach down into the pit of my stomach and twist.

"_Rose_... Rose, you have to let him go..." I didn't mean to, but those words stirred primal instinct to protect what was mine and a growl ripped from my throat without me even thinking of it. I looked up to see Alberta crouched in front of me with her hands up in a sign of surrender.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered. "I..."

"I know Rose. But we have to do this... He _needs_ you to be strong." She said as her hand rested on my fist. Yes... he did. I could feel her fingers slowly working at getting my hands to surrender their grip. "Let go Rose. I won't let anything happen to him again, I give you my word."

_Rose... We'll all be there, they won't hurt him ever again; he'll come back to you, I promise. _I closed my eyes as I felt a hot tear fall down my cheek. My fingers slowly released and Alberta stood up letting her hands fall to her sides. I put my hands on his face and traced his eyes with my thumbs.

"I can't lose you again, please... please come back to me." I whispered in against his lips before kissing him. I sat up and closed my eyes as I lifted my hands away from his body. When I felt his weight lift away from my lap, I had to use every bit of will power that I possessed _not_ to reach out and grab hold of him again. I slowly counted to ten in my mind before opening my eyes again and I saw Dimitri being held up between Alberta and Eddie. I took a deep breath, wiped my face dry and stood up; slipping on my well practised guardian mask, I followed them outside. The sleeping bodies of the dhampir and human captives lay on the grass around us, surrounded by guardians and Moroi. I stood tall and looked through the thick hedge of trees between us and the houses of the estate in the distance and I wondered if the strigoi would really come back here, somehow I doubted that they'd make it that easy, but I could live in hope...

Not once did I look down at _any _of the sleeping faces because if I did, I knew that I would search for the one I needed to see the most and if I found that face... my resolve would crumble and I wouldn't be of any help to him...

"Okay Rose. We're going to wake them up now, are you ready?" That question held many meanings... _Was_ I ready for the screaming... for _his_ screaming? Ready to watch him run away? Ready for the fight? Was I ready for any of that? No...

"Yes." I said anyway. I closed my eyes as Lissa put her hand on my shoulder. Through her healing of the darkness that I took from her, we'd realised that she could also calm me down with a little bit of spirit and this is what she was doing now... although it didn't help much when the screaming started. My eyes no longer stayed closed. The captives yelled and writhed on the ground in agony, it almost seemed like it was worse than before... maybe the strigoi had turned up the pain to force them back. One by one, in quick succession the captives got off the ground and started running.

"Give them sixty seconds..." Alberta said to the guardians around us. I looked over to Lissa and Adrian who were surrounded by four guardians, two fire users and two water wielding moroi.

_We're fine Rose, don't worry about us alright. Go bring them all home. _I nodded to her and then looked into Adrian's eyes.

"I won't let anything happen to her, I promise." He said with his trademark grin. Everyone knew how he felt about me; me included, but after Dimitri... left, he saw my pain and never pushed me.

"Thank you. Stay safe... all of you." I made sure that the guardians and moroi knew I said it to all of them.

"Let's go Rose." I looked back to Alberta and noticed that the tracking guardians had already started to move off. A small number of us were going to track the captives on foot while the others would follow in cars. We would direct them when we crossed through places that cars couldn't and when the captives stopped, the cars would be able to get there before us and start the rescue. With a quick glance to Adrian and Liss, I took off after the other guardians.

We'd been running in silence for nearly two hours now and by the tracking device that Guardian Thomas held, the captives were still on the move. They continued heading east until they hit the heavily timbered forest surrounding Pocono Lake, they were one step closer to the Royal Court... surely the strigoi couldn't be that idiotic to still be on the move to there... Their numbers were obliterated; they had no chance to take on the amount of guardians that occupied the Court... unless they replenished their numbers since the raid... or planned to. _Shit!... _I lengthened my stride and caught up to Alberta who was leading the pack with Guardian Thomas so that I could tell her my theories. It didn't take her long to agree with the high probability of my thoughts being right on the mark, so the whole group picked up the pace and we were now gaining fast on the captives.

It was only minutes later that the tracking devices stopped moving; they'd arrived to wherever they were meant to get to and we were only minutes behind them.

"Unit two..." Alberta said into her earpiece. "The captives have stopped approximately a quarter mile in on the north side of the I-80, co-ordinates are being sent to you now. You're going to have to go on foot once you get there by the looks of it; I think they may be hold up in a cave or something. Be on the lookout."

"We're two minutes out." We were maybe three or four minutes, so we weren't far behind. I hadn't meant to, but I felt myself push ahead... I _had_ to get there, but it was the longest three or four minutes of my life. Finally I could see where the cars had pulled off the interstate and gone into the cover of the trees.

"Rose, fall back, you don't know where you're going." Alberta's voice came through the earpiece, but I didn't need her tracking device... I could make out the footprints of the guardians from the cars. The closer I got the more focused I became, but with that focus came the all too familiar nausea that raised its ugly head when strigoi were near. I couldn't afford to stuff this up by letting my emotions get the better of me; Dimitri's life was counting on me keeping it together. I came to an area that had thick undergrowth amongst the trees. Vines that grew up the trees and down along the ground grabbed at my legs as I ran, slowing me down a tad and they were definitely getting on my nerves. I could hear the sounds of fighting close by and within seconds saw a guardian stumble out of the opening of a cave. I gave him a quick glance as I passed him and saw that his neck had been broken.

The damp mossy smell of the cave was thick and assaulted my senses as I ran inside. The sounds of fighting reverberated off the stone walls and the nausea that swirled in my stomach suddenly started to lessen... With that realisation I pushed my legs faster, but after a sharp right hand turn I was met with a wall of blackness... cold blackness. I skidded to a stop and looked around, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the dark; they did a bit, but not much. I jogged forward, my stake clenched tightly in my hand and ready for anything. A quick memory flashed into my mind...

"_Why did you turn off the lights?" I asked Dimitri. My heart started beating madly and I bit my lower lip in anticipation of the answer that I wanted more than anything..._

"_Training..." Well, that wasn't the answer that I'd wanted to hear._

"_Training?"_

"_Yes Roza..." he whispered against the back of my neck. I spun to face him, but he was no longer there. "Fights aren't always in the light." He was behind me again and dread suddenly fell over me as I realised that he was about to attack... A kick hit the back of my legs and I went down...hard._

"_Shit!" I sprang up and instantly went into a defensive crouch. "You could have warned me."_

"_Strigoi..." to my right... "Don't..." my left... "Warn..." behind... A hard hit to my shoulder had me once more on my back and in pain... Shit... For the next half an hour we fought in darkness. With each hit I received, I relied less and less on my sight. By the end of the fight my sense of hearing had been switched to high and I could track his movements with my eyes closed. I could feel him come up behind me, the soft sound of his footfalls accompanied by the slight movement of the mat beneath my feet told me exactly how far behind me he was. Before he knew what hit him; he was on his back and my mouth was on the soft skin of his neck. His heart thumped like a base drum between our bodies, and me being me had to take every advantage that presented itself... The tip of my tongue touched the soft skin that covered the fast pulsing vein in his neck and I slowly drew it upwards to the corner of his jaw... I smiled as I was rewarded with the rumble of a deep growl..._

"_I win..." I whispered at his ear._

"_That's a matter of opinion..."_

I quickly shook my head of the feelings and memories that fogged my brain; I had to keep a clear head. I took a deep breath and concentrated on my hearing, on sensing my surroundings. I moved forwards as fast as I could in the dark and soon became aware of my first opponent; the only problem... was it strigoi or guardian? Soon enough my question would be answered... I would either hit the stone hard body of a strigoi...or not. The first blow hit my cheek, but now I knew where... 'it' was. I heard movement to my left and I ducked to my right as I felt the breeze of another blow go past my face. Twisting to my left I kicked out, landing onto the soft body of a captive... okay...

"Orange..." I said loudly. I waited for the sound of a body to hit the dirt, but it didn't come, instead I was hit with a blow to my ribs. _Shit! Why isn't working...? _"_Orange..._" I yelled. Just then a guardian's voice came through the earpiece as I continued to fight...

"You have to knock them out first... the strigoi's control must be too strong to break while they're conscious. Say the word..." The guardian's voice was strained like he was fighting and then disappeared for a few seconds. "...then say it once they're down... they won't... get back up." Okay, knock them out. I focused on my opponent and laid a few hits to his face. Holding the stake in my clenched fist made my punches become small wrecking balls. I had to incapacitate my opponent quickly so I drew the tip of the stake across his arm.

"Argh!" The captive screamed with a hiss. I felt terrible having to hurt him but I knew I didn't have time to fart-ass around; I had to eliminate the strigoi so that we could free their minds. Within a few minutes was able to get him down. "Orange! Now _stay_ down..." I quickly found his pulse at his neck and it wasn't long before I could feel it start to slow... he was sleeping. Once again I stalked forward; I could hear the shouts of the codeword ahead of me and knew that they were having their own problems. As I rounded yet another corner of the cave, flickering light from a small fire showed a mêlée in close quarters. Not good!

Taking a quick glance around I saw fighting between guardians, guardians and humans, and also between guardians and strigoi. Bodies lay on the ground, some dead, some... I didn't know. They were tripping up the feet of the guardians, they had to be moved. As much as I wanted to get into it and help with the fight, I had to move some of the bodies or else we'd all perish. Keeping the stake firmly in my grip, I dragged body after body to the sides of the small clearing. A few times I had to fight off a captive but their attention was taken over by one of the guardians.

"Help her!" I hadn't realised that Alberta was with us, I shouldn't have been surprised though... I wondered just how long the fighting had been going on...

Another guardian helped me clear the few remaining...bodies and then we quickly joined back into the fight. I soon overpowered a human captive and yelled the codeword once she was down and then with a hard shove, she joined the other sleeping forms. Every so often I would feel the nausea drop... and every time, I'd smile just a little knowing there was one less in the world.

With a punch to my chest, I flew backwards and landed hard on my back but before I could get up... I was pinned. Red eyes blazed inches from my face.

"Well now... What do we have here?" The foul metallic breath of the strigoi wafted around my face. "You wouldn't happen to be the infamous Rose Hathaway would you?" I didn't know if I should be flattered that my reputation preceded me or not...

"The one and only..." I said through clenched teeth.

"Really? I don't think so... I've got you pinned and you didn't even get a hit in."

"Mmm, well, you're just lucky I guess..."

"Luck had nothing to do with it. I'm strigoi, I'm better."

"Says you..." I'd had enough with the chit-chat. I brought my knee up right on target and seeing his eyes widen was the opening I needed. I twisted to the left underneath him and brought my legs up; kicking with both feet I sent him stumbling back from me. Being faster than me; he didn't need too much recovery time and I found myself on the defensive as soon as I jumped up onto the balls of my feet. I _hate_ being on the defensive... with a passion, so when the opportunity arose, I dropped down and kicked out. My foot connected with the front of the male strigoi's knee and with a sickening snap, he let out a blood curdling scream. He bared his teeth and hissed in anger...

"You bitch! You'll pay for that." As he reached down to realign his leg, he left his chest unguarded... _big_ mistake... I reached up and plunged my stake deep into his chest. Moving to the side so that he didn't fall on me, I watched as the 'life' faded from his no longer red ringed eyes. _Be at peace..._ I said silently to him as I looked at his face. The sounds of fighting snapped me out of my daze and I looked up to see Dimitri. _Oh no... _He'd just knocked one of our guardian's out cold...

I jumped up and rushed over to take him out of the fight... I wasn't going to lose him now... As I ran, I tried to think of the best plan of attack; head, body or legs? Legs... Another guardian was now pairing off with him so I'd use that as a distraction. Six feet away from him I dropped and slid on my side with my legs open. I wrapped my legs around the bottom of his and with the momentum of my sliding, I pulled him down. But I didn't call him a God just because of his looks. As he fell, he twisted his body and wrapped his arms around my torso... _damn! _I made sure that I kept my arms away from my body; otherwise I'd have no way to defend myself.

"Dimitri... Listen to my voice..." I yelled. The other guardian was now laying into him, unfortunately every time Dimitri got hurt, he'd squeeze me harder and harder...

"Ellis. Stop... get him off me." I yelled. _I _had to get Dimitri's attention, not Ellis. I pulled my arm forward and slammed my elbow into Dimitri's ribs and thankfully his grip on me loosened just as Ellis grabbed Dimitri's shoulders and pulled him backwards. I leapt out of his arms and spun around to face him. _Sorry... _I pulled my arm back and hit Dimitri's beautiful face with everything in me. I saw his eyes roll, but it wasn't enough to knock him out...

"Orange." Yelled Ellis. Dimitri did relax somewhat, but he didn't sleep... _Shit... _One more punch and down he went.

"Orange." I said loudly. His face instantly went slack along with the rest of his body. I gave a quick nod to Ellis and then we dragged Dimitri to the side of the room. The nausea in my stomach was almost gone indicating less than five strigoi. This had to end, I couldn't afford any more time fighting with the captives, until the strigoi were dead, the captives would continue to fight. "We need finish this," I said to Ellis. "...we need to get to the strigoi... make a path and I'll follow." With a quick nod to me, he flew towards the strigoi at the back of the clearing. As captives and guardians did their almost choreographed dance in front of us, Ellis would push them aside.

Three strigoi. That's all that was left. I looked to my right and Alberta had just knocked out her opponent, I grabbed her and pulled her along with me.

"Rose!" she yelled in surprise.

"Come on Alberta, this needs to be done with." She saw where I was pulling her and then fell into step. Only seconds later we stood in front of three pissed off, bloodthirsty vampires who had their teeth bared and were crouched into defensive positions.

In a flash they jumped at us, teeth and sharp fingernails bared and ready to strike. My mind was honed into the _thing_ that had to be destroyed, nothing else mattered. I spun to my right as his fist whipped past my face. I braced my arm and rammed my right elbow into his stomach and then finished off with a backhanded right fist to the jaw. The male strigoi went down, but not for long. By the time I completed my turn, he was back on his feet, but I wasn't going to be where he expected me to be. I dropped down and balanced on one hand while I kicked out both legs into his knees. One snapped but the other simply slipped out from underneath him causing him to fall towards me. A fist slammed into my cheekbone causing black and white spots to sparkle in front of my eyes. This was _not_ good! The next thing I knew, a cold hand was wrapped around my throat and was squeezing hard, but strigoi were strong enough to just snap my neck like a twig between his fingers, he was enjoying my suffering.

"What's that dhampir?" He hissed inches from my face. "I can't hear you; you're going to have to speak up." His grip got tighter and I knew I was only seconds before passing out... _think Rose, think!_ Pulling my hand away from his hands, I reached down to my leg and pulled a stake out of my boot. It wasn't the normal sized one, it wasn't as thick and it wasn't round, I'd had it specially made to fit into my fighting boots but it was just as deadly to Strigoi. I pulled it out and with the last of my strength; I rammed it upwards through his ribcage and into his cold, dead heart. His mouth opened in shock and his eyes became vacant as whatever 'life' resided in this body, went to wherever it went to. I coughed and spluttered as beautiful sweet oxygen flooded into my burning, starving lungs. I pushed his heavy body off mine and rolled to my side. My eyes squeezed shut as I rubbed my aching neck and tried to get as much air into me as possible. As I wheezed, I opened my eyes to a horror that I never thought I'd see...

The strigoi beside me had Alberta in his arms and his teeth in her neck. He was killing her.

"NO!"


	8. Chapter 8

**I know... I'm late again... :-) Sorry!  
Thank you all so much for your reviews, I'm glad you all seem to be enjoying the story.  
Sandy**

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**Chapter Eight**

"No..." I tried to yell but what came out of my mouth was nothing like a voice, just a gargled, strangled sound that was accompanied by yet another round of coughing. I glanced to my left and Ellis was still fighting with the strigoi so I knew that it was up to me to help Alberta and she only had seconds left. As I continued to suck in the sweet oxygen that I would never take for granted again, I pushed myself up off the floor. The stake that had been knocked out of my hand was lying on the floor only a few feet away, so with a new sense of determination, I grabbed the stake and ran over to help her, I already had the smaller stake from my boot and I was lethal fighting with two.

Unfortunately the strigoi saw me coming. He threw Alberta to the side and I cringed as her crumpled body just lay motionless on the dirt floor of the cave clearing. I had no idea if she was dead or not, but I couldn't think of that now, I had to kill this bastard once and for all. He crouched down ready to spring forward so I went into my defensive stance. As he leapt up, I went down and rolled underneath him. I spun around to face him and sat on the balls of my feet, my right hand extended in front of me; my left hand behind.

"You bastard, you'd better pray that she's still alive." I growled between my teeth.

"Or what, _you_ gonna kill me little girl?" he said while laughing. "I've seen children who fight better than you..."

I knew he was trying to goad me into losing my cool, but his smirk faltered for a second when I replied to his banter with a smile of my own. He was obviously used to scaring people with his jibes, well, he'd never come across me before...

"Is that all you've got? Shame you won't have time to work on a better routine... you know, considering how you're about to _die_ and all." Obviously I hit the right buttons as he hissed at me and then charged. This one was obviously a dhampir before being changed; well trained beforehand and fought a lot of battles since. He was good, really good, a lot like Dimitri actually, just stronger and faster. His punches were like being hit with a brick as were his kicks and I knew that I had at least two or three ribs broken already. For each punch or kick I laid on him, I got one back in return; the problem was that mine weren't doing the damage to him as his were doing to me. I had to change tactics.

I thought back to Alberta's mentoring that she gave me after Dimitri was taken, I normally fought 'Dimitri style', but that was too much like how this strigoi fought, so I switched to the one fighting style that I'd seen beat Dimitri... Alberta's. I came at him like a charging bull and sure enough, I was met with an open mouth of hissing teeth... now time to stir things up a bit. I ran with my shoulder down like I was going to ram into him but as I got closer I dropped to the floor and slid in-between his legs. As I went through, I used both stakes to slice into his legs and as I stood up, I raked them up his back. His screaming was like music to my ears; loud, eardrum piercing music, but music none the less. He swung his arm around behind him, directly for my face but I was ready for this reaction. I bent my body backwards and with a scissoring motion of my two stakes, I sliced into his forearm muscle. It wouldn't take long for this gaping wound to heal, but it would put that arm out of action for a little while at least.

Instead of standing back up, I turned my body and swung my leg around into his ribcage with a roundhouse type of manoeuvre. My movements were fluid and seamless and caught the strigoi by surprise and that was all I needed. In the blink of an eye, I had both stakes planted deep into his chest and into his heart. Blood pounded in my ears as the adrenaline continued to flow in my veins.

Once I knew he was dead, I went straight over to Alberta to see if she was still with me. I grabbed her wrist to find a pulse as her neck was covered in sticky, drying blood. It was there, but only faint; she'd lost a lot of blood... if only my bond with Liss went both ways...

"Oh God Alberta, don't you _dare_ die on me. _Come on!_ _Fight_ damn it!" Up until now, I hadn't realised that the fighting around me had stopped. I looked up and saw guardians, humans and Moroi either walking around bloodied and dazed or lying on the dirt floor. I didn't know what to do first... There was only one way to know if we'd got all the strigoi or not and that was to wake the captives up; but I needed Liss here to do it, my 'strigoi alarm' told me that there were no strigoi in the immediate area but that didn't mean that we'd got them all, one or more could have escaped during the fight. I also needed her here to help Alberta; I needed help to bring her out of the caves. "Ellis... do you have a phone?"

"Ah..."

"_Ellis! _Snap out of it! _Phone_..." I yelled at him with my hand out stretched.

"Yeah... sorry." He reached into one of the zipped pockets of his trousers and pulled out his phone but I could see that it wasn't going to work, it was smashed up. I felt around Alberta's pockets hoping that she had hers on her but she didn't.

"Ellis, find a phone, quickly." He was now a little more coherent and jogged off asking people for a phone, finally he came back with a working one but as my luck would have it... no reception! "SHIT, SHIT, SHIT! Ellis, watch Alberta, keep talking to her and try to get her to wake up, I'll be back soon." He nodded and knelt beside me, taking Alberta's head in one hand and pressing down on her neck with the other. I took off for the cave entrance praying the whole way that Lissa wasn't too far away. It only took me a couple of minutes to get there but it felt a _lot_ longer, people were dying and every second mattered.

"Rose!" Lissa's voice screeched down the phone before I could get a word in. "Is that you, are you alright?"

"Liss, Liss... calm down. How far away are you?"

"Ah... well that depends on where you are?"

"Oh right, hang on..." I sent the GPS coordinates to Lissa's phone so that they could find us; hopefully it wouldn't be too long. "Did you get the coordinates?"

"Yeah... We're... Oh! We must nearly be on top of you. Do you have a flashlight on you?"

"Yeah Liss, I've got a flashlight, a camp oven, even a friggin tent on me... No, I don't have a flashlight, I've been fighting..." I knew I was being mean, but I didn't have time for niceties.

"No need to be nasty Rose..." I could feel that she was just worried about me, about all of us, but I was so worked up that the snarkiness just tumbled out of my mouth.

"Sorry. Alberta's hurt bad, a strigoi got to her and bit her. She's lost a lot of blood and her pulse is weak. There are a lot of injuries... and deaths. Oh... I can see you, keep heading straight."

"Okay we've got ya." I hung up the phone and within seconds the SUV pulled up at the cave entrance and her and Adrian leapt from the car before it had even stopped. "Oh Rose... You're hurt!"

"I'm fine... Come on, you need to help Alberta." I ran into the cave dragging Liss and Adrian as fast as their legs could go, I had to fight the urge to just throw her over my shoulder so that I could run at my full speed... The guardians and Moroi that came with them ran in behind us.

"Bloody hell..." Adrian gasped as we reached the small clearing in the back of the caves.

"Oh..." Was all Liss could say, looking at them now, I couldn't believe that they could get any paler than their normal pale complexions... obviously I was wrong. They were as white as ghosts. Neither of them knew where to start first, there were so many injured people around us, but I dragged Liss over to where Ellis still sat with Alberta and told Adrian to help with the worst of the injured.

"How is she?" I asked him.

"Still with us..." Liss bent down and put her right hand on Alberta's head and her left over her heart.

"Not too much Liss, just enough to keep her stable. There are others here that need your help too, so only do what's necessary." I felt mean in a way but I knew Adrian wouldn't be able to heal as many people as Liss so she had to conserve her energy. I closed my eyes as she started to heal Alberta and I felt the wonderful rise of spirit flood through the bond. After everything that had happened lately, the pure joy of her healing felt amazing and it didn't take long before Alberta's eyes started to open.

"Rose... Princess...?" She asked slightly confused.

"We're here Alberta." I said. "You were injured and you're really weak, just rest and we'll get you out of here as soon as we can alright."

"I'm alright..." she said as she tried to get up. But she soon realised how weak she was and lay back down on the ground without another word.

"Liss, we need to wake someone up to see if we got them all."

"Dimitri?" She asked me. I looked over to where he laid and nodded... We may as well get this over with, so we both stood up and walked over to him. "If he's still in pain, I'll put him back to sleep straight away, okay." All I could do was nod to her. She reached out and touched his forehead with her fingers as I gripped his shoulders. If we didn't get them all and they still had control of him, he could lash out in pain and I didn't want Liss to get hurt. It only took a couple of seconds for Dimitri's eyes to open. He looked at her hand that was in front of him, then at her and smiled but when he turned towards me, his smile started to fade.

"I'm so sorry Roza." He said.

"Nothing to be sorry about, are you alright?" I asked him.

"Yeah." As he looked around at the destruction around him, I spoke to Liss.

"Can you see if the mind control thing is still there?"

"I'll check." She closed her eyes and I felt her spirit start to rise once more but nowhere near as much as before. "It seems to be gone." She said tentatively. "I don't know if it's only there when they 'activate' it or not, but at the moment I can't find it." Well, that was good news... I suppose. "I have to help the others." She said to me. I could feel the strong desire to heal through the bond, but I had to get her to wake the others first.

"Wait... We need the others to help us, can you wake them first?"

"Yeah." She jumped up and started waking the captives.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked Dimitri again.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Nah..." I said with a smile. "I could do with a hand at the moment though, are you up to it?"

"Certainly." I helped him up off the ground but we just stood looking at what was in front of us... Bodies lay everywhere, some obviously gone, others sleeping and then there were some that I was unsure of, those were the ones that we had to help with first. It was only about half an hour later when re-enforcements arrived and started ferrying the injured back to HQ. All the captives had been woken and were eager to help. When they tried to take Alberta to the cars, she cried out in pain when they moved her so Lissa immediately went to help her. I don't know if Alberta did this purposely or not, but she had a very smug smile on her face after she was healed...after all, it meant that she could now stay and help. Somehow I think we'd been deceived...

Finally after all the injured and captives were gone, bar one, I finally started to feel the weariness start to take me over. I'd even forgotten when the last time was that I'd slept. I found myself propped up against one wall of the cave clearing with a brain that couldn't seem to focus on anything.

"When did you sleep last Roza?" I jumped slightly at the sound of Dimitri's voice; I hadn't even noticed that he was sitting beside me.

"Ah... It's been a while Comrade." I said with a rather unconvincing grin. He reached over to me and wrapped his arm around behind my back and then pulled me up onto his lap.

"You don't have to be strong anymore Roza," he said while stroking my hair, "...go to sleep and let me look after you for a while. It's something I've dreamed of doing for some time now." I felt him press his lips to my forehead but I was so tired right now, my mind couldn't even think of a word to offer in protest. My body seemed intent to rebel against my will to stay awake and within seconds the comforting blanket of sleep dragged me down.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi Everyone, Sorry this one isn't a very big chapter, but I had to stop it here... You'll understand why once you're  
finished reading... :-D I hope you all are still enjoying this story.  
Anyway, On with the story... Sandy**

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**Chapter Nine**

As the fog of sleep pulled away from my consciousness, I tried to move so that I could stretch my body. Only problem... something heavy was holding me tight from behind. I was a little confused to say the least... The last I remember was being in the cave... _Oh shit! _The fight! My eyes flung open only to be blinded by the sunlight that shone directly in my face. I quickly took in my surroundings but that made me more confused than I was before... what in the hell was I doing in my room? I twisted my body around to see who was behind me and my breath caught in a gasp as my eyes locked with the now open but sleepy eyes of Dimitri.

"Oh..." I breathed out. I reached out to touch his cheek and the instant I touched him I got that familiar but extremely missed jolt of electricity shoot through my hand and up my arm. "You're okay... You're awake..."

"Yes I'm awake, thanks to you." His eyes were no longer sleepy and I must say that I liked the look that was now in his eyes, it was a look that I've missed a great deal, but after what happened the last time he got that look, I thought I'd be the one to pull away first. "Where do you think you're going?" he said as he grabbed my wrist.

"I thought I might..." I said indicating to the bathroom.

"No. Not yet." It looked like he wanted to say something else but instead; he just stared into my eyes. He reached up and started to outline all of my facial features with his fingers. "I can't tell you how much I've missed you. Every day I regretted what happened the last time we saw each other."

I went to say stop him but he put his finger to my lips and shook his head slightly... he had something to say and I had to let him say it.

"You were right, I was a coward..." I shook my head no... "...Yes, I was. You see Rose, back then, your ability to see into my mind and soul scared me, it made me feel vulnerable and I hadn't felt that vulnerability in a long time. The last time I felt like that was as a child, every time my father would come and belt my mother up I would hide with my sisters, but then the day came when I'd had enough and I gave my father the same beating that he'd always subjected my mother to and from that day on, I vowed I would never let anyone make me feel like that again. I was going alright until you tore through my life like a tornado and upended everything that I'd worked so hard to accomplish. You frustrated me to no end, you challenged me at every turn, and for the first time in a long time, you made me smile and laugh... and no matter how hard I tried to mask my feelings or thoughts from you, you would see straight through me. When I left you in the gym, I went and told Alberta that I was thinking about taking up Tasha's offer."

"I know, she told me."

"Well, she asked me why but I couldn't tell her that I was in love with you, so I said that I needed a change. She told me to go do my shift and take that time to think hard before making a decision I might regret... One thing I didn't have to think about were my feelings for you though, I already knew how much I loved you but I also knew that to pursue a relationship with you even after graduation would probably mean that we would have to keep our love behind closed doors for the rest of our lives and then I remembered what you said... you had always shown me how much you loved me. You were always that sort of person, you wear your heart on your sleeve for all to see and I knew that to live our lives like that would hurt you and it would eventually eat away at us and kill our love. I remember thinking that I'd rather live in pain while still loving you from afar than risk us hating each other. I also knew that by taking Tasha's offer... everything would be easier."

"Because she wouldn't..."

"Be in my head like you were... It would be easier." He said with a shrug. "About two hours before my shift was to finish, I made the choice to leave, to take the cowards way out. But before I could get back to the academy, I saw the strigoi just outside the wards... So I went out to eliminate the threat. But things didn't exactly go according to plan; I thought there were only two... the others came out after I'd left the wards. I had no chance against ten, they drank from me so that my mind was pliable enough for them to manipulate and then I just walked off with them."

"That wasn't your fault."

"No, I know I was under compulsion, but I always thought that if my mind wasn't so... messed up that night, that I would have called for reinforcements instead of trying to do it all myself."

"Why didn't you call for help?"

"I didn't even think about it. I was so angry. Angry at myself for taking the coward's way out, angry for being forced to give you up when all I wanted was to hold you forever... just...angry. I wanted to kill someone and who better than a couple of strigoi, so I went after them only to find eight more surround me." I cringed at the image that formed in my head.

"We still live in the same society as before." I said. "We will still have to hide..."

"No." He said vehemently. "No. If the moroi have a problem with us being in a relationship, then that's their problem, I will _not_ hide 'us' ever again..." He stopped talking but I could see that he wanted to say more.

"And..." I said wanting him to continue. He smiled and shook his head.

"You can still see into my mind...can't you?" I smiled and gave a quick shrug of my shoulders as he cupped his hand on my cheek and leant forward to kiss me.

"As much as I love your kisses," I said as we broke apart, "...I know you wanted to say something more..." He stared into my eyes debating if he should say what was on his mind.

"I vowed from the second my mind cleared after I was taken that if ever I got the chance to come back to you, I would never make the mistake of leaving you again. I would no longer be the coward I was back then."

"You were never a coward Dimitri. You are and always have been the strongest and most honourable man I've ever known. What I said that night was unfair and untrue."

"I know that's how you've always seen me, and to this day I have no idea why. By choosing to leave instead of fighting for us, I showed how weak I can be. I've made some of the worst mistakes anyone could ever make..."

"Haven't we all..." I said with a smile.

"I'll never be without you again Roza and if I have to leave our world because of their prejudices, then so be it." WOW! He would leave being a guardian for me... My heart felt like it was about to burst. A few days ago, when I found him, my heart started beating again for the first time in a year, but it wasn't until right now that my soul became whole again. And I knew that I would give everything up for him too.

"I would too." I whispered. I pushed myself up so that I was now lying on top of him. "I've lived without you for twelve long months and I will never do that again... I need you with me to survive; you complete me." I bent forward and kissed his beautiful, soft lips. His hands came up and wound themselves into my hair as he deepened the kiss and I found myself quickly losing control, but then I remembered what happened last time we'd started this...

"What's wrong?" Dimitri asked me as I pulled away.

"Are you sure?"

"Are you insane?" He said astonished. "What on God's green earth would make you think that I don't want to... be with you?"

"Well, you know what happened last time?" The look of confusion that passed over his face was soon reflected on my own.

"Last time? Rose, you were right to stop last time," okay, now I really was confused. "...it was too soon, but now... I want you so much." Just as he pulled me back down to him in a passionate kiss, a knock sounded at our door. It was a little hard to make myself move but I eventually got up and opened the door to find Lissa looking back at me.

"Oh, you're awake."

"So it would seem... Why aren't you asleep?"

"I was, but something woke me up and I wanted to come see if you were alright. I know how exhausted you were so I was expecting Dimitri to answer. Is he alright?" she asked as she peered around the doorway. I stepped aside so that she could come in.

"Ah, I suppose. Though something he just said has me a little confused."

"Oh really? You mean to tell me that you guys were just...talking."

"Yes we were... sort of." I couldn't help the blush that filled my cheeks but I didn't want to get into that so I just continued on... "Well, you know about how I told you what the strigoi made him do...?"

"Yes." She said frowning.

"Well, it's like he doesn't even remember it now, I don't know what to make of it."

"That's probably because he doesn't." I stared at her in shock... Why wouldn't he remember it and how would she know he doesn't...?

"What are you going on about?"

"Well Oksana took _that_ particular memory away."

"Oksana?" What...?

"Yeah, well when I worked out that the captives had that mind...thingy controlling them, I got Christian to ring her in Russia to see if she could tell me how to get rid of it but it was too confusing and as much as I tried, I couldn't do it, so she and Mark took the first flight they could get to the US and arrived about an hour after you all came back from the caves. By then the strigoi had been killed and the mind control had been wiped, but she saw what had happened to Dimitri and the others when she brushed their minds, she gave them all the option of wiping the last twelve months or if there were certain things that they just didn't want to remember, then she'd just get rid of those memories. She wiped the last twelve months from all of the humans and they've been taken back to their homes with cover stories. Dimitri chose to have certain memories taken away, that one in particular."

I was astonished and relieved. Without that memory haunting him for the rest of his life, we could truly begin our lives together...without reservation.

"Thanks for filling me in, but can we talk more tomorrow?" I asked her; now anxious to pick up from where she'd interrupted.

"Fine..." she said in mock hurt. "I know when I'm not wanted..."

"Well you could stay if you'd like, but..."

"NO! No, no, no... I'm good! I'll see you in the morning..." We laughed and hugged each other goodnight and then she left for her room. Knowing this bit of information suddenly made my stomach flutter... it meant that this could really happen, we could finally be together and I wanted to be with him, more than anything really, but I haven't been with anyone...ever. Sure I'd played around a bit, but never..._that_. I walked over to the window in the sitting room to gather my erratic thoughts and looked out over the grounds of the huge estate. I closed my eyes and smiled as I felt his presence behind me.

"I love you." I whispered while still facing the window.

"I've missed you, I adore you and I love you with all of my heart." A tear fell onto my cheek at his words and I turned to face him. He took a few steps forward and closed the distance between us and then reached up to wipe the tear from my face. As my heart jumped into overdrive, Dimitri bent forward and softly kissed my eyes, my cheeks, my lips. He held me gently, not pushing me into anything I may not want, but it didn't take me long to give him the green light.

**Soooo... Don't forget to revew guys, you know how much I love to hear all of your thoughts... Reviews are LURVE! hehehehe**


	10. Chapter 10

**Well, finally it's finished... Phew! :-D Just to let EVERYONE know... **

**THIS IS AN 'M' RATED CHAPTER!**

**Also, as my normal readers know, I don't normally get to expletive with these types of scenes, but this one is...  
Nothing dirty or anything, just a little more...descriptive than normal... LOL  
But I don't think you guys will mind all that much. But I thought I'd put the warning out there... **

**This has been a long time coming, so I thought I'd make it good! hehehe  
Anyway, here tis, and I hope you all enjoy it!  
Sandy**

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

"Make love to me." I said against his lips. He pulled back and looked into my eyes to see if I really meant it. What he saw must have been to his liking because he smiled as he reached down and lifted me up into his arms. Without me even noticing that we'd moved, he'd taken me back into our bedroom. I'd become lost in the ever increasing love of his eyes, I watched as they slowly changed from the warmth of love to blistering heat of lust in the time it took us to get there. He placed me on the bed and gently laid down beside me. Never before have I felt... apprehensive in this situation; probably because I always knew that it would never lead to anything other than kissing and a bit of touching, but this time, I knew that I was going to go all the way _and _it was going to be with Dimitri.

He reached out with his hand and lightly touched my face then traced slowly with his fingers down my neck and chest; as they reached the top button of my shirt, goosebumps covered my body. One by one the buttons came undone, all under the hungry eyes of the man I loved. By this time, his breathing had almost become as ragged as mine and slowly, inch by inch he opened my shirt to reveal my lacy bra. I watched his eyes as he followed his fingers journey of my body; tracing along the edges of my breasts and then lightly pinching each now hardened nipple. He was taking enormous pleasure in each reaction he got from me, both verbal and physical. He leant forward, kissing from my chest, to my neck and then finished by running his tongue around the edge of my ear.

"I've waited a long time for you Rose and I intend to savour every second." Before I could respond, he brought his lips to mine and the instant our tongues touched, my body arched up to press against him. I could hardly contain myself, it didn't matter that I hadn't been with anyone before, my body knew what it wanted and that was Dimitri! I tried to push him onto his back but he was having none of that...

"I'm not finished Roza."

"Oh really?"

"Mmm... First, we need to get rid of this." He said in regards to my shirt, I lifted slightly off the bed to make it easier for him. "Now... don't move, stay... right... where... you are." His smouldering eyes sent my heart wild once more. He occupied my mouth with his again as his hand reached around and undid the clasp of my bra and then slipped the straps off my shoulders. I know he told me not to move, but I don't know how he expected me to do that.

"You've forgotten something." I said to him. I smiled as I watched him raise one eyebrow in question. "Well... you seem to be at an advantage..." He smiled as I reached forward to unbutton his shirt, after all... it didn't seem fair that he was still covered up. After I threw that offending piece of clothing to the floor, I ran my hand over his well defined chest, getting to know his body once more. He closed his eyes for a second, enjoying my touch as much as I'd enjoyed his but he was as eager as I was to continue.

"You're so beautiful..." he whispered as he leant towards me capturing my mouth with his again. I never realised how much I'd missed kissing Dimitri, but to feel his lips against mine again... it was like coming home. I was so carried away in his passionate kissing that I hadn't realised where his hands were until I felt the button of my pants pop open.

"I've never liked these pants." He said with a grin. "I think they need to go too..."

"If that's what you think..." I said suggestively with a smile.

"I do..." He stared into my eyes as he pulled the zipper down slowly and then proceeded to remove the offending pants... He looked down at my lacy knickers and let out a soft growl. But now he had more clothes on than I did, I had a little more trouble getting the button of his jeans undone than he'd had with my pants, but where there's a will, there's a way. As I pulled the zipper down, my breath hitched as I became aware of the extent of his arousal.

"Mmm... Is there a stake in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" I said trying to cover up my nervousness.

"Oh I'm definitely happy to see you Roza." He smirked, but he was now finished with words; he bent forward taking one of my breasts into his mouth and the other in his hand where he softly pinched and pulled my hardened nipple. Words were forgotten as my skin tingled in pleasure. I wound one of my hands into his hair, holding him against my chest as my other hand finished getting rid of his jeans. My body reacted immediately and I could feel myself starting to throb between my legs, my hips pushed against him automatically, I wanted him so much.

My body shook when his hand left my breast and slipped into my knickers, touching me for the first time. He pulled away from my breast and started kissing my lips again and as his tongue entered my mouth, his fingers entered my body.

"Oh... you're so...wet my love." The feeling of his fingers inside me was amazing and I moaned in pleasure. As my nervousness melted away, my hips rocked in rhythm with his hand and with every stroke of his fingers, I could feel something wonderful building in both my mind and body.

"Oh... Dimitri..." I cried breathlessly against his mouth.

"Yes my love?" He said as his fingers moved faster inside me.

"I... _Oh, God_..." I didn't know what it was that he'd found inside me but I was glad he'd found it... If this was just his fingers, I couldn't wait for... him!

"Are you ready?" He asked me, I had no idea what he meant, but I soon found out... "I want to taste you." He couldn't mean... _Oh...My...God! He did...! _My eyes shot open as he moved downwards and spread my legs apart. As his tongue licked against my now _super _sensitive private area, he had me screaming again... I've _NEVER_ felt anything like this in my life before..._ever! _My hands gripped tightly into the sheets as my body trembled at his touch. I could feel the excitement in my body building up and up, tightening to the point where I thought I was going to go insane... He knew I was close so he inserted his fingers into me again. That's all it took to send me over the edge. My body shook as my inner walls tighten and throb around his fingers.

"OHHH! HOLY SHIT!" I yelled as my head fell back and my eyes closed.

"That's it Roza... let it go." That was simply the most earth shattering thing I've ever experienced in my life. "That's one Roza..." I heard him whisper... I opened my eyes when I felt him pull away from me but before I could say anything, he continued speaking.

"You looked like you enjoyed that."

"That's...an understatment. Wow... That was... incredible." I said between pants. "I've never felt... anything like that before."

"Are you sure?" The smile on his lips was almost smug...

"Yes..." Did he really think I had?

"Wanna feel it again?" Saying those four words were like he'd just flicked a switch... and he knew it. He opened my legs apart again as he lifted himself up and then knelt between them. The last twelve months had taken a lot out of him but he still had the body of a God and here he was, right in front of me in all his glory...and he was stunning. My body tingled in anticipation as he leant down over me. I looked into his smoulder brown eyes and wanted nothing but to feel him inside of me. I reached up and knitted my fingers into his hair as I pulled his lips back down to mine. This kiss was full of twelve months of separation, twelve months of sadness, longing and need. I always thought that I'd be awkward and bumbling when it came to my first time, but my body seemed to have a mind of its own.

"You are so beautiful." He whispered. "You have no idea what you do to me." I couldn't help the smile that pulled at my lips and then his mouth claimed mine again, this time with more urgency than before. I felt the tip of his erection at my entrance but I was no longer scared, my body ached for him, all I wanted was to feel him inside me. My fingers left his hair and gripped into his shoulders as I lifted my hips up off the bed and that motion caused his tip to enter me.

"Wrap your legs around..." He smiled when I complied before he could finish the sentence. One of his hands slipped behind me and grabbed hold of my butt. "I'll try not to make it hurt too much Roza." I nodded as my pulse raced and I tried to prepare myself. He kept his eyes on mine as he slowly pushed himself inside of me until he came to my barrier.

"Are you alright?" He asked me. I nodded again and he leant forward and kissed me as he pushed further. I let out a slight yelp against him as I felt the sting deep inside me and he pulled away from me to see if I was alright. It only took a second or two for the pain to subside and then I relaxed. Seeing this, Dimitri smiled and slowly pulled himself out of me. I was about to ask if that was it, but then he thrust himself back into me.

"Oh..." I moaned as I shut my eyes.

"I didn't hurt you did I?" Dimitri asked me.

"No... I... Oh God..." I couldn't put two words together as he moved in and out of me. Every nerve in my body felt like it was on fire, especially those at the very core of my body and as his pace quickened, I felt the same wonderful sensations of before build inside me again to where I thought I was going to snap. I pushed my hips up towards him, I needed to feel him deeper within me then he already was. My fingers dug into his back as he complied with my silent wishes and bringing his other hand to my butt helped him achieve that goal. All I could do was moan with the pleasure of each thrust.

"Oh God Roza..." he said between gritted teeth. He growled as he brought his mouth to my neck and started to suck hard on the soft skin. I screamed out as my body shattered in pure ecstasy, the walls of my vagina tightening around him as I orgasmed for the second time, my body needed him closer so I tightened my arms around his body. With one last thrust, Dimitri let out his own husky growl and I felt him reach his own climax, trembling in his own pleasure as he released himself inside me.

As our breathing started to settle into a more normal rhythm, we loosened our grip on one another. Even the bond between Lissa and I couldn't compare to what I was feeling right now. I never imagined that I could feel so close to another person. Our bodies were slick with sweat and I tingled from head to toe. Dimitri continued to cover me in kisses until I started giggling like a little girl...

"That was..." I couldn't put words to it...

"Yeah, it was." His eyes glistened as he smiled but I could see he wanted to say more. "Roza, was that...?" I knew what he was asking...

"Yeah, it was my first time." I could see that my confession had an effect on him, I knew that he never believed the rumours that went around at the academy, but I think he thought that I may have been with someone since then, while he'd been gone.

"I've waited so long for you." I bit my lip to stop the embarrassed grin that tried to pull at the corner of my mouth but that was soon forgotten when he softly brushed his lips against mine in such a loving kiss.

"I hope I didn't disappoint." I said when we finally broke apart.

"Are you kidding...? You were... incredible. You could never disappoint me my love." The rest of that night I spent in the arms of the man I loved more than life itself, and I knew that I would never leave his side ever again. We continued to kiss and touch _and_ love until the sun went down, but we both knew that everyone would soon be up and we'd have to leave our little bubble before either one of us wanted to.

"How about that shower now?" Dimitri said with a kiss.

"Only if you join me..." I said as provocatively as I could.

"How could I refuse an offer like that?"

"Mmm..." I slowly pulled away from him and my body felt instantly cold without him. As I got to the bathroom doorway, I realised that he wasn't following so I turned around to see him staring at me from the bed. "Are you coming?"

"Yup. I'm just admiring the view." I felt my cheeks warm instantly at his words but after everything that we'd done last night, there was no need to feel embarrassed.

"So when do I get to admire the view?" I tried to lift one eyebrow like he does, but that will never happen... they both came up together in question. His rumbling laugh and heart-warming smile as he climbed out of bed took my breath away and then I stood there like a drooling fool as I took in his toe curling body.

"So is the view to your liking my love?" he asked with a grin.

"You have no idea..." I don't know what my face looked like, but I must have looked funny as he burst out laughing. Now normally I would have punched someone if they'd laughed at me like that, but with the way I was feeling right now... punching was the last thing on my mind. Dimitri grabbed me around the waist and lifted me off the ground and kissed me as he took us into the bathroom. I'd never had a shower like that one before, and let me say that I don't think I'll ever be content with a solo shower again... at least I could blame the hot water for the flush that covered my body when we finally got out.

* * *

As Dimitri and I finally made our way into the lobby, we noticed that nearly everyone was here. I went to grip my hands behind my back when Dimitri grabbed my hand closest to him and pulled me into his side.

"Together..." he said smiling down at me. I smiled back at him and wrapped my other arm around his waist in a tight hug as we walked, it was a little awkward but I wasn't ashamed of our love and wanted _everyone _to know he was mine. When I looked back at everyone around us, I saw smiles... smiling, winking faces of my friends and peers.

_Well, you look... happy. _Lissa's voice and almost bursting excitement flooded into my head through the bond. I looked around to find her but in the sea of people around me, she wasn't easy to find. _Look to your right Rose..._

I looked around and grinned as our eyes met. She was grinning like a Cheshire cat! Her happiness for me was pouring out of her and I knew that she wouldn't be able to contain herself for much longer. I pulled Dimitri in the direction where Lissa and Christian were standing but before we got there, Lissa took off towards me squealing like a stuffed pig!

"I'm so happy for you!" she squealed in my ear as she wrapped her arms around me.

"Me too Liss..."

_I know... Those were some pretty strong emotions I got last night._ I pulled back from her with my eyes bugging out of my head. Our bond was only one way, how in the hell had she felt my emotions...? _Oh no... _

"Did you...?"

_No, I just felt your 'extreme' happiness and for that to happen, I knew that something amazing had just happened between you two. _I smiled; relieved that I hadn't somehow pulled her into _my _head when I was with Dimitri last night.

"It's good to see you smile again Buffy." I looked over to Christian's smiling face where he stood behind Lissa.

"Thanks Sparky." We were really quite close now, especially after everything we'd been through together and I could see that he was genuinely happy for me, for both of us.

"Glad to have you back too Dimitri." He said reaching out to shake hands with him.

"Good to be back Christian, more than you know."

"Oh I think I have a fairly good idea..." He said with a wink. I looked up into Dimitri's deep brown 'melting pot' eyes and took a deep breath. This time last week, I was dreading having to face the anniversary of Dimitri's disappearance and now... my arm was wrapped around his waist and my body still retained the feeling of him being inside me.

I was home. I was whole.

**Sooooo? How was it? Was it as good for you as it was for me? LOLOLOL! Sorry, couldn't help myself! **  
**Please, please review and let me know what you all think. Was it too much? **  
**Also, I know that I have a fair few reviews, but not as many as some of my other stories. Hasn't this one been as good? I have had some people want me to take it further**  
**so if you also want that, you have to let me know... Otherwise I will end it in the next chapter. (I know... I said 10 Chapters, but hey... 11 is close!) :-)**

**Thanks everyone.**  
**Sandy**


	11. Chapter 11

**FINALLY... I had a little bit of writers block, I knew what I wanted to say, but couldn't get it down... But here it is at long last!  
Oh, and btw... This is yet another rather citrusy chapter... I couldn't help myself.  
I needed to get out the Dimitri that I know is hiding behind that guardian mask! hahahaha!**

**Let me know if you like this Dimitri, if you do, then he may come out to play more often! HA HA HA!**

**Sorry for taking so long, but I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it. :-)  
Sandy**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

After all the 'welcome backs' and 'congratulations' were over and done with, Alberta got everyone to calm down so that she could call the meeting to order.

"Alright, calm down everyone. We will be leaving here in two hours so I will need everyone to go back to their rooms and pack. Breakfast is ready whenever you are so grab some before we leave. Now I know it's been a hectic few days and as you all know, we have suffered losses. We all knew this was a possibility and considering the amount of strigoi we've faced, we're lucky that we didn't lose more than we did. Memorials for the friends we have lost will be held at the Royal Court in the coming days."

"Guardian Petrov." Patrice Conta called out; she was one of the water users. "Do you have the names of the people who we lost?"

"Yes I do, I can read them out if that is what you would all like." Everyone around us nodded in agreement. "Alright then, first off I'll let you all know that we lost fifteen guardians and seven moroi. The numbers are high, but after the battles at the houses and at the cave, we eliminated 104 strigoi." There were murmurs of disbelief all around us, we couldn't believe such numbers. Never before had they come together like this and we all knew that had we waited for them to come to us, our number of dead would have been a lot higher... if not all of us.

As a sign of respect, Alberta started to call out the name of each person who had been lost in the last few days. I've been in a few battles since leaving the academy but I found it easier to mourn the dead in my own way. So, I now did what I've done before when the names were called out... I left. This life was hard enough, especially with me seeing ghosts and all, and hearing the names of the dead was more than I could handle. As I started to move off, Dimitri tightened his grip.

"I can't stay." I said to him softly. He nodded in understanding and let my waist go, only to grip my hand and looking into his eyes, I knew what he was saying... he was coming with me. I remembered back to when Liss and I had first been brought back to the academy. I'd seen Dimitri in the church...reflecting, so I knew that he understood my need to be alone, we'd just be alone...together. I decided that I may as well start on my packing; what little I had. As I got halfway up the stairs, Lissa spoke to me through the bond.

_Where are you going? Don't you want to hear this? _I stopped and turned around to look at her and then shook my head. I started to walk up the stairs again when she continued. _Weren't you told Rose that the more you play with your new toys, the faster they wear out! _I couldn't help the little giggle that came out but I didn't dare look at her, then I really _would_ have laughed and this was definitely not the time for that...

"What's so funny?" Dimitri asked.

"Something Lissa said, don't worry." He let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulders pulling me into his side and then we went to our room to pack. It was amazing really, even after all this time apart; this comfortable silence we'd always shared between us never changed... it still felt like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold night – comforting. Dimitri sat on the bed while I went to the walk-in robe and grabbed my suitcase. After placing it on the bed beside Dimitri, I went back to the robe, got the few things that hung there and went back to pack them, then walked around the room and gathered the few personal things that I took with me everywhere I went, but I could feel his eyes on me as I cleaned up...I knew he was staring at me. Whenever I turned to face him, I was met with soft brown eyes and a loving smile, a smile that I couldn't help but return. When I walked back to fill my suitcase, he'd just look up at me from where he sat and stared into my eyes...saying nothing.

I turned around and got my clothes out the draws that sat against the far wall of my room, I knew that when I turned around he'd still be looking at me and this knowledge was making my heart race even more than it had been. Sure enough, he hadn't moved... he was still watching me with intense eyes. I walked back to my suitcase and dropped my pyjamas, workout clothes and underwear on top of everything else. I couldn't help but grin when I saw Dimitri do a double take at the lacy items that lay on top. All I had left now was the few dirty items from the day before and then I was done. As a guardian, our lives revolved around our Moroi, not accumulating useless stuff that would just get in the way of protecting our charge, or in my case...my friend, my sister. What few things I did have, I treasured.

"Are you finished staring?" I asked once I was finished.

"Never." He said as he grabbed my hand. He gently pulled me over to stand between his legs and then rested his forehead against my chest over my heart. "I still can't believe I'm here with you..." he said as he wrapped his arms around me; his hands going up my back under my shirt, making my skin prickle with goosebumps. "I still think that I'm going to wake up and all this will have been a dream...no, I nightmare, a cruel nightmare."

I bent forward over him and tightened my arms around him. I knew what he meant, how he felt... I too had found myself waiting to wake up and find that I'd dreamt the last few days and then I'd have to feel my heart breaking with loss all over again. I didn't know how long this feeling would haunt me... us, and deep down I knew that we'd probably feel like this for quite a while, 'til we dared to believe that it really was real and until then we wouldn't want to let go of each other for too long.

"I'm here Dimitri, really here and I'm never letting you go again." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, he leaned his head back to look at me. "Why were you looking at me like that before?" I asked him.

"I haven't seen you for the last year, my memories just aren't enough anymore. I'd forgotten how graceful you are." He said with a smile. "And then I remembered...from before."

"Remembered what?"

"I don't want this to sound creepy, but... I used to love catching glimpses of you around campus, laughing with Lissa and the others, annoying Stan, hearing your wicked sense of humour, your sharp wit; they were the favourite part of my day. I remember thinking about how beautiful you were, inside and out, but then I'd chastise myself for feeling what I did for you. I battled within for so long, telling myself that our feelings for each other were wrong. I remember having to prepare myself before our training sessions. It took all of my self control to _just_ be your mentor, but as you know...sometimes that self control would slip."

"Mmm, not as often as I wanted it to though, but when you did, _they_ were the highlight of _my_ day." I said.

"Mine too..." he grinned. "I can't take my eyes off you." He whispered as his face grew serious.

"Who said you had to?" I could see how much effect my words had on him, the change in his eyes was instantaneous and palpable. The intensity of that change was immediately mirrored in me, it was like our souls had merged and what he felt, I felt. His hands reached up to cup my face, now I don't know if I pushed him back onto the bed or if he pulled me down, either way it was a pleasing situation that I now found myself in... I ended up on top of him delving into the hungriest, neediest kiss I'd ever experienced... I could feel his need for me, it was pressing hard against my legs... Knowing that I could make his body react this way caused an equal and instant response in my own body. The floodgates opened as my private parts pulsed, making me drip with anticipation. I pushed my suitcase onto the floor, sending my clothes flying across the room. This time there was nothing slow about our desire for each other, no waiting for buttons to be undone, clothes were ripped, buttons popped... We were naked and joined in less than ten seconds...

His strong hands gripped my body as my fingers dug and clawed at him in a desperate need to have him closer, deeper within me. Somehow I managed to push him onto his back, thinking that this could be a way to be closer... but he was having none of that. I was soon on my back once more with Dimitri pushing into me harder and harder with each thrust. I knew I was getting rather vocal but I couldn't stop myself... my eyes flung open when I heard a crash and I was surprised to realise that the beside lamp had become collateral damage in our journey to the wall.

_How in the hell did I end up against the wall? _Dimitri's hands, body, scent occupied my every thought. My body instinctively wrapped itself around his; everything about what we were doing was instinctual, animalistic almost. Nothing in the world existed in this moment other than the feeling of him inside of me; body, mind and soul. I could feel that I was now lying on the floor somewhere; my eyes too immersed in Dimitri's to be bothered to find out where we were. I could feel myself getting hotter and hotter, the feeling of ecstasy coiled in my body tighter and tighter until I felt myself falling into the blissfully warm, orgasmic fog that enveloped me. My body tightened, throbbed and shuddered and as Dimitri's name screamed from my mouth, I felt his body tremble in its own orgasm, his essence pumping into me, completely erasing the emptiness that had been a part of me for way too long.

As our heart rates started to slowly lessen and our breathing relaxed; our lips came together in a soft, slow kiss.

"Holy shit Dimitri..." I said looking up into his eyes. "That...was..."

"Un-friggin-believable..." he finished for me. I laughed softly against his mouth; happiness like I'd never thought would be mine again gripped my heart to the point where tears stung my eyes. Of course Dimitri saw this.

"What's wrong love? Did I hurt you?" I squeezed my eyes tight before opening them and then tried to blink the tears away. His eyes conveyed so much, intense love, worry...

"No... Not at all."

"Then why...?"

"I never thought I'd ever get you back." I whispered lookin gup at him. I kept speaking as hot tears fell down from my eyes into my hair. "I never thought that I'd feel this way again, but here you are."

"I know what you mean." He whispered while smiling. He gave me one more deep kiss before rolling off beside me. "I won't ever make those mistakes again Rose." I could see the determination in his eyes and voice and I knew that whatever happened from here on in, we would do it together. I rolled over to my side, pushing myself backwards into Dimitri's chest.

"How did we get out here?" I asked as I took in the room around me. Last I remembered we were in our bedroom; weren't we?

"Violently..." Dimitri said snickering. I glanced back to him to see a very devious smile on his lips. "What?" He said in mock innocence. "But I must say that I'm glad that you're a little less... breakable than the furniture though..."

My eyebrows flew up in surprise and I sat up and took in my surroundings... and there was quite a mess...

"Oh... Did we really do this?" I asked slightly embarrassed.

"Mmm, and it was a _lot_ of fun..." I turned back to see Dimitri lying on his side resting on his elbow, head on his hand and looking extremely smug... not a look I've ever seen on him. I like it!

"Yes... it was, but its all fun and games until someone has to clean up the mess..."

"Or..."

"Or what?"

"Well... as far as I can tell, there's still a lot of furniture here that isn't broken..." I couldn't help but laugh... I never knew this side of Dimitri existed. I thought I was the devious one out of the two of us; guess I taught him a thing or two... I found myself staring at him with my mouth open... "Finally, I've rendered Rose Hathaway speechless."

Before I could say anything though my stomach rumbled, reminding me that I had yet to eat breakfast.

"Ah, it's good to see that some things never change..." He said laughing.

"Hey, a girl's got to eat. This..." I said indicating to my body, "...takes a lot of upkeep I'll have you know, a lot of... _intense_ work outs, and that requires a lot of fuel 'cause I work out _hard_."

"Mmm, I know..." He stood up and held out a hand to me, but all I could do was stare and grin at the naked God that stood before me, he really was a sight to see. He knew damn well that I was staring and he loved it. "You're not going to get that desperately needed fuel sitting there my love. Shower first?" I nodded and then reached up and took his hand and once I was up, he led me to the bathroom.

I stood against the basin and watched him some more as he reached in to turn on the shower but when he turned around to face me, he didn't move towards me... he bit his bottom lip as his eyes made their way down my body. Even with everything that we'd shared since getting back from the caves, I was still a little self conscious standing in front of him in my birthday suit... I sort of wanted to cover up a bit, but it was also strangely stimulating to watch his eyes as they took in my nakedness. When he finally looked back to my eyes, I could see so many emotions, appreciation, lust, desire, need but most of all... love. He held out his hand to me which I took without breaking eye contact and he walked us into the rather large shower.

He walked me backwards under the spray of water and reached up to pull my head backwards. "I've always loved your hair." He said quietly, I actually think he said this more to himself than to me but I loved the sentiment of it none the less. He reached behind me and grabbed the shampoo. "Turn around." He said softly...

I turned my back to him and felt my body relax as he started to massage the shampoo into a lather. I kept my eyes closed as he turned me back around again to rinse it out under the water. Once it was rinsed, he pulled me to him and kissed me so softly as he squeezed the water out of my long hair. Next was the conditioner, I once again had my back to him as he massaged my scalp and I was becoming so relaxed, I had to put my hands against the wall so that I wouldn't fall down... I soon woke up though when he pulled my hair to the side and kissed my exposed neck, awakening my desire for him again. I thought that I was the only one feeling that way until his hands slipped over my shoulders to my breasts and his 'excited' body came up against my back.

"Round two?" He whispered before licking the edge of my ear; my skin prickling even under the hot water... I spun around and smiled before leaping into his arms. This time was a lot less destructive... considering all the glass that surrounded us, but _Oh My God_... This was without a doubt and officially _the best shower_ I'd ever taken in my whole entire life... When we got out, my pampering was obviously not finished...

"Now I know where the terminology comes from Comrade." I said as Dimitri grabbed my towel and dried me off – _very_ slowly.

"What terminology would that be maya krasaveesta?" He saw my confusion and smiled before letting me in on what he'd just said. "It means my beauty..."

"Well..." I began, "...now I know why when people feel tired, they say they feel shagged." My heart soared as Dimitri let out a full and heartfelt laugh.

"Oh Roza..." That's all he could say until his laughing died down. "You are... there are _no_ words to describe what you are..."

"Try..." I said with a wink.

"Funny, no...hilarious, amazing, stunningly beautiful, inspiring, breath-taking, light of my life, my reason..."

"Your reason? Reason for what?"

"Breathing..." What does one say to that? But I knew exactly what he meant. I may have thought I was living for the last twelve months, but now I knew that I only existed. _Now, _I was alive, _now_ I could breathe. How sappy is _that_! And as always, he knew that _I_ knew exactly what he meant. "Come on, let's get you fed." He grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his waist and then putting his hand on my back, guided me into the bedroom. I couldn't help but laugh as I took in the damage that we'd obviously caused... I hoped that some of this stuff wasn't too expensive. Dressing was an interesting experience; I can honestly say that I've never had so much fun getting dressed before.

"I like these..." Dimitri said picking up my very sheer, lacy, blood red bra and panties from the floor where they'd been thrown.

"Oh really... Well then, I better put them on..."

"Let me..." he said seductively. Eventually we got dressed.

As we opened the door I saw a note on the floor. I bent down to pick it up and noticed Lissa's writing...

_My darling Rose,_

_I managed to convince everyone that Dimitri really _wasn't _killing you, quite the opposite actually, and somehow I don't think you two will come up for air any time soon, certainly not before we are to leave, soooo Lord Drozdov said that a car will be left here for you guys to drive back to Court when you're finished... (whenever that may be). _

_He was a little concerned at the crashing, until I said that I'd pay for any damage. But he said that as long as the vase on the sideboard in the sitting room survives, then everything is A.O.K! LOL_ _(apparently it's a family heirloom...)_

_Have fun! Oh... sorry, you're already doing that! _

_Love Lissa._

_P.S. You've got the next 2 weeks off, do you think that will be enough time? _

I moaned but Dimitri laughed as he read the note over my shoulder and I looked back in relief to see that the vase had indeed survived... I made a mental note to put it someplace safe when we got back from eating. Then it hit me... Alberta said two hours, and I know that we've been here for longer than that. I looked at my watch and blushed when I realised that time really _does_ fly when you're having fun... We'd been in our room for more than three hours. How embarrassing... I was now painfully aware that _everyone_ would have heard all the crashing and knew exactly what we were doing.

"Wow..." he said beside me.

"What?"

"I've rendered you speechless and made you blush in a few short hours... Two things that I never thought were possible." I looked at him in astonishment; he was not in the least bit embarrassed by the fact that everyone heard us.

"Aren't you embarrassed?"

"Nope." He said confidently. "I told you, I'll _never_ make those mistakes again, I'll _never_ hide my love for you...or how _intense_ I love you. You never know Roza; we might just teach these stiffs a thing or two." I couldn't help but giggle... yeah, giggle as I glowed in the heat of his adoration.

Somehow, I don't think two weeks will be enough...

**Remember, if you like this Dimitri, let me know... Personally, I think he's pretty sexy! LOL...**


	12. Author's note

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the author's note, but I wanted to know a few things. As I had originally planned for this to be only about 10 chapters, the story I wanted to tell...has been told. But a lot of you want it to continue, so I thought I'd let you all have an input as to what happens next.

As you all know, they have two weeks alone, do you all want to read about those two weeks or skip them and go straight to Court and what happens when Dimitri gets back.

Does he have to prove himself, if so...how?

If he doesn't have to prove himself, what happens? Does he continue his assignment to Lissa?

Do they even want to still be guardians? If not, then what?

Let me know, what you all want, I can make the chapters from here on in, all from your suggestions.

Thanks for reading...

Sandy


	13. Chapter 12

**Hi Everyone. Well first off, sorry it's taken so long for me to update. As you all know, sometimes life  
just gets in the way. I have been writing when I can, but at times just couldn't get enough done. But now that  
things have calmed down, I've been able to sit and type, so much so that I'm now a few chapters ahead of myself! Woo Hoo!**

**Oh btw... You know those little voices in your head that demand that they be heard and what they say be put on paper,  
well they've been at me... LOL... I'm writing yet another story... I know, I know... (slaps palm against forehead)**

**This one is going to be an all human story and told from a narrators POV. It doesn't have a name yet, but when it does I'll let you know.  
It's coming along really well so far, so I hope once I start posting it, you'll all enjoy it. It won't really follow the books, but  
certain things that happen in the story will be somewhat familiar... ;-)**

**Anyway, sorry about the long and boring Authors note here, but I thought I'd explain where I've been and thank you all for your  
continued support of this and my other stories. Your reviews have meant so much to me and keep me writing. So, on with the story...  
Thanks again, Sandy.**

* * *

_**Previously...**_

I moaned but Dimitri laughed as he read the note over my shoulder and I looked back in relief to see that the vase had indeed survived... I made a mental note to put it someplace safe when we got back from eating. Then it hit me... Alberta said two hours, and I know that we've been here for longer than that. I looked at my watch and blushed when I realised that time really _does_ fly when you're having fun... We'd been in our room for more than three hours. How embarrassing... I was now painfully aware that _everyone_ would have heard all the crashing and knew exactly what we were doing.

"Wow..." he said beside me.

"What?"

"I've rendered you speechless and made you blush in a few short hours... Two things that I never thought were possible." I looked at him in astonishment; he was not in the least bit embarrassed by the fact that everyone had heard us.

"Aren't you embarrassed?"

"Nope." He said confidently. "I told you, I'll _never_ make those mistakes again, I'll _never_ hide my love for you...or how _intense_ I love you. You never know Roza; we might just teach these stiffs a thing or two." I couldn't help but giggle... yeah, giggle as I glowed in the heat of his adoration.

Somehow, I don't think two weeks will be enough...

* * *

**Chapter 12**

The next few days were spent holed up in our room. Three things happened in that room... One, we rediscovered each other; physically, spiritually and emotionally. Two, we talked and talked about anything and everything that had happened over the last year and three, we slept... tangled together in the deepest, most content sleep I think either of us had had in a long time.

"You know that if we don't leave this room soon, they'll think we've died and they'll send someone up to dispose of our bodies." Dimitri said with a smile.

"I guess they'll be in for a shock then won't they? But somehow, I think the empty food tray outside the door lets them know that we're still breathing in here."

"Mmm, maybe. I do have something to let you in on though."

"Oh really, what's that?"

"Well, there's another reason why we need to leave." I raised my eyebrows in question at this, so he continued. "Well, Lissa told me to leave it as a surprise and I will to a point, but we're leaving here for the rest of our time off."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see. Let's go and get some breakfast before we have to leave." I could see the excitement and amusement in his eyes, but that lifted eyebrow of his also told me that he wasn't about to tell me where we were going.

"Ah, if we're leaving here and not coming back, shouldn't we pack first?"

"Already taken care of." The expression on his face was now... smug, but still happy. I had an inkling of where we could be going; only one place I could think of would make him this happy and excited, Russia, and I wasn't about to spoil his excitement, but I thought I'd play a bit though...

"Tell me please... I don't really have the clothes with me to go on holidays you know. When we came here, I only packed for a week... a week of fighting."

"I'll take you clothes shopping once we get there."

"Oh, so there are clothes stores where we're going? Not a deserted island then..."

"No, not an island, and yes there are stores there." He was in such high spirits in this moment; I was almost drunk off the happiness he was radiating. "You want food or not? If not, I could always fill you up with something else..." he said suggestively.

I've lost count how many times we'd made love up to now, but all it took was a look and a few words to set me on fire... "As much as I'd love to take you up on the offer," I said as I raked my nails down his chest, "...unfortunately, this body does not run on love alone, it needs carbohydrates...and _lots_ of them; preferably covered in chocolate glaze. If I don't sink my teeth into something substantial soon... you may end up with more than a few harmless love bites..."

His eyebrows rose in shocked humour but that was soon followed by a low growl as he grabbed me forcefully and pulled me against him. "That sounds like fun."

"Dimitri!" I laughed as I playfully hit his shoulder.

"Alright, alright... Feed time at the zoo, I get it. But you owe me one Hathaway."

"I think you're forgetting who owes whom what, Belikov." I said with a wink as I sauntered off to the bathroom.

"Don't worry Roza... I have the memory of an elephant..." which he did, "amongst other things." He said in a low voice.

I spun around to face him in total shock... I don't know what my face looked like, but he thought it was hilarious. I couldn't believe those words actually came out of his mouth. The Dimitri that stood in front of me now was a _very _different Dimitri than the one that was taken from me last year; that one was as straight laced as they come. _This_ Dimitri was going to take some getting used to... he was open, forward, unabashed and _extremely_ passionate, and I loved him more and more with every passing second. Once the fog of shock cleared from my brain, I felt my cheeks start to flush...

"Well," I said as I turned away from him, "...are you coming or not, Jumbo?" I let out the most pathetic girly squeal as he grabbed me from behind and lifted me into his arms.

"Not yet I'm not Roza, but give me time..."

=x=

As we sat on the plane that was taking us to Dimitri's homeland, I found myself once again staring at his sleeping form. This was something that I'd done a lot since I found him at White Haven. At the academy, he was never unguarded; I could count on one hand the amount of times that I'd seen real emotion on his face back then. But those first couple of nights after finding him, when I watched him sleep, I saw for the first time how his face softened; but since we really got together, his face showed even more... There was only one word that I could put to his sleeping expression – contentment, and I wondered if this was something that showed on my face when I slept.

"Can I get you something else ma'am?" The air hostess snapped me out of my daydreams, which I wasn't too pleased about. I quickly plastered the best fake smile I could on my face and answered.

"No, not right now thank you."

"Okay, let me know if you need anything." I didn't mean to, but I let out a bit of a growl when I saw her eyes flicker over to Dimitri. It hadn't gone unnoticed that every time she walked past us or asked us a question that she'd look to him with a smile and batter her stupid eyelids. I know that I've developed a rather good level of self control over the last year, losing the love of my life made me grow up before I really wanted to, but if she kept oogling my man, she'd find herself asleep for the rest of the flight...well asleep may not be the right word... unconscious more like it. Scenarios of her demise flashed through my mind as I noticed her in the galley readying the food tray for lunch. I glanced back to my sleeping lover... I couldn't help but smile when I thought of him in that context, and my devious mind thought of a plan.

I turned in my seat to face him and then reached out my hand and slowly but softly walked my fingers up the inside of his thigh. I listened to his breathing and watched his face for any sign that he was waking but there was nothing, and I needed him awake for my little plan. My fingers were only inches away from his crotch when his hand grabbed my wrist.

"What are you doing my love?" he said as he slowly opened his eyes.

"What's it look like I'm doing... my love?" A small smile pulled at the side of his mouth and I could tell that he was trying to work out my motives. I tried to continue my 'walk' north, but he held my wrist securely in place.

"Oh, I know what it looks like Roza, but why? Why here?" I could hear the food trolley being pushed up the aisle so now it was time for part two of my plan. I quickly pushed out of my seat and placed myself on Dimitri's lap...facing him; my legs either side of his hips. Not an easy position to be in on an airplane seat, thankfully we were in first class which had bigger seats.

I grabbed his face in my hands and captured his lips with mine. He was a little taken back at first, but he quickly complied. The low growl emanating from his chest rumbled against mine as he pressed me tightly against himself. For a moment, my plan was forgotten as was my surroundings, all that I could think about was Dimitri, but all too soon my little patch of passionate bliss was interrupted by none other than 'Miss can-I-get-you-something'...

I jumped slightly as she cleared her throat but I could tell by her face that my little plan had the desired effect.

"Excuse me for the interruption. We have two choices for lunch today, Chicken Caesar Salad or Fillet Mignon, which would you prefer ma'am?" Her face was slightly flushed in embarrassment, but at least she was no longer looking at Dimitri... objective accomplished!

"The steak thank you." I said with a grin. I turned to face Dimitri to ask him what he wanted and was met with a face that knew exactly what I was playing at. I bit my lip to keep from grinning but quickly pulled myself together to continue... "What would you like, lover?"

Without taking his eyes of mine, he answered... "I wouldn't mind a bit of _Rump_ actually..." He started laughing as my cheeks flushed bright red. I couldn't believe how quickly he'd turned the tables on my plan. "...but the Mignon will have to do for now." He was always the only person who could read me like an open book; time had not changed that fact.

"Yes sir..." the hostess said quickly as she turned around and fumbled at the trolley.

"You're a naughty little girl Miss Hathaway," he whispered in my ear, I could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke, "and naughty girls need to be disciplined, but as this really isn't the time or the place for such activities, I inform you that your punishment will be deferred for a more appropriate time."

Goosebumps covered my body either from the heat of his breath at my neck or from anticipation, so I took a deep breath and gathered my thoughts _and_ tenacity, and then sat back in my seat with a grin on my face. Our lunches were quickly and quietly placed in front of us and we were once again left alone, looks like _some_ humans are quick learners...

The rest of the flight was filled with more teasing sexual innuendos, touches and heated kisses... so by the time we'd collected our bags at St Petersburg airport, Dimitri and I were both just about ready to spontaneously combust. Our inability to keep our hands off each other nearly caused our taxi driver to be responsible for a major pile up on the way to the train station; apparently the view in his rear view mirror was better than the road in front of him. I suggested a bit of a stopover on the way... you know, to relieve certain anxieties from our flight... but no, we had to keep on our way.

Dimitri booked our train tickets but luckily we didn't have long to wait until it left. Apparently it would take us to a town a couple of hours from Dimitri's home town. Unfortunately, we had to share a compartment with another couple so my plans of 'anxiety release' were pushed onto the back burner... again. Once we left the train station, Dimitri was able to find a cheap car, bartering was yet another of his numerous talents so it would seem. All this travel had taken a toll on me and it wasn't long before I was out for the count.

We arrived in Baia a couple of hours before nightfall and seeing the house that Dimitri grew up in stirred up a lot of mixed emotions. I was happy to be here, but the thought of what I'd missed out on flashed through my head. I had no siblings, no grandmother, no mother to speak of... and no home. I knew that I would never have children being with Dimitri and that was fine by me. If I wasn't in a relationship with him, then I would be Lissa's guardian for the rest of my life anyway; children were never in my future, but seeing this house stirred images of family and a closeness that I have and would never know. That knowledge...irked me somewhat.

"Ready?" Dimitri asked me as he held my hand. I turned to him with a smile and nodded to him. Hopefully he'd take my 'face' as nervousness and not what it really was.

Seconds after we shut the car doors, the front door to the house flung open and a woman in her fifties came running out after a brief pause in the doorway.

"Dimka?" Seeing the similarities between mother and son wrenched at my heart, good and bad. Good because...well he got his looks from his mother and bad because it was yet another thing I didn't have; familial looks. I looked nothing like my mother; she could be just any other person on the planet, and as much as the thought 'is she really my mother?' had passed through my mind over the years, I knew she was, simply because she's a cold hearted cow and wouldn't have had anything to do with me at all if she _wasn't_ my mother. Then more of his family came out side and they too all looked like him...

"Mama..." My love wrapped his mother in a huge hug, lifting her off the ground and burying his face into her neck and rocking her from side to side. His mother was in the same position sobbing softly. I got a few glances from the others as they made their way to Dimitri, but they were intent on welcoming him home.

"Mama..." he said as he put her to the ground and wiped at his eyes. "I'd like to introduce you to someone. Mama, this is Roza... the love of my life." He held a hand out to me and pulled me over to his mother. I couldn't believe he said that... it took my breath away.

"So, you're Roza." The statement took me by surprise but I nodded in reply, he must have told them about me before he was taken. "Dimka has told us so much about you, welcome to our home." She wrapped her strong arms around me and at first I was a little taken back, but in a strange way, it felt almost familiar... and I couldn't help but return it.

Dimitri introduced me to his sisters and nephew Paul, but then we were both introduced to two new nieces... Zoya who was Karolina's daughter and Alexsia who was Sonya's daughter. But I noticed his grandmother wasn't here, the scary one he'd told me about. As if hearing my thoughts he asked his mother where she was and we were informed that she was inside waiting for us. Dimitri wrapped an arm around my body as we walked to the house while his family practically bounced around him; their excitement was evident as they kept slipping into Russian as they spoke. They'd apologise when Dimitri would keep reminding them to speak in English.

His home was everything I'd imagined a 'home' to be. Furniture that showed years of use as memories were made, photos on the walls indicating different stages of the children's lives. It didn't escape my notice that Dimitri was as gorgeous as a child as he is as an adult... Yet another stab to the heart, another thing that I would never have; that Dimitri would never have...children. I couldn't believe how in the space of a few short minutes, I realised just how much I didn't and would never have in my life, my life as a guardian.

"Are you alright?" Dimitri whispered in my ear.

"Yup, all good Comrade." I knew he could hear my lie...I heard it myself so I knew he would. His eyes locked with mine and I could tell he was about to pull me up on it but luckily his mother interrupted.

"Dimka, I know that your life as a guardian is busy, but you've never gone so long without sending us word before, why haven't you written to us in so long?" Dimitri's body stiffened slightly but he tried to cover it by pretending to fidget, I don't know if any of the others here picked up on it, but as my eyes passed to his grandmother, I could tell she knew something.

"It's a long story Mama, one that's probably better left until tomorrow. I'd just like to... catch up for now." His mother gazed into his eyes intently for a few seconds, like she was trying to work out what was going on but then reached up to cup his face in her hands.

"Tomorrow..." she said after letting out a deep breath. "Would you like to freshen up then, after your travels?"

"That would be wonderful Mama."

"You know where everything is. While you two freshen up, I'll start on an early dinner." I was a little taken aback... I knew _she _knew we were together but I still felt a little self conscious about getting 'freshened up' together. Wouldn't it be better if he went first and then me? But I didn't get a chance to think anything more about it. "Off you go... Shoo..." She waved her hands at both of us and went about getting food from the refrigerator. His sisters fluttered around with her in a dance that I suspected they did on a daily basis. His grandmother just sat at the kitchen table staring at me with scrutinising eyes. Dimitri took my hand and pulled me from the kitchen and then grabbed our bags before taking me upstairs.

Of course he saw my apprehension, he always does. I'd actually forgotten his uncanny ability to read me like no-one else.

"What's wrong Roza?"

"Nothing really, it just feels a little... weird." His eyebrows rose in question but his eyes and face held nothing but knowing and humour... yeah, he knew what was wrong... His muscular arms wrapped around my waist and he lifted me up so that we were now eye to eye.

"We're adults Roza, Mama knows this. She also knows how rare it is for guardians to find the love that we've found; she would never want either of us to lose it." His strength never ceased to amaze me; he held me easily in one arm while the other slowly made its way up my back and into my hair. "And I have no intention of giving you up for anyone, ever again."

He brought us together in a kiss that was soft and sweet and full of love, but as normal; being this close to him had a rather _instinctual_ effect on me. My legs, in a mind of their own, wrapped around his waist and in doing so, changed the kiss into one of pent up passion and desire. The shower was soon forgotten and the only thing that was of any importance right at this moment was each other.


	14. Chapter 13

**Hi Everyone, I know, I know... I'm late again! Sorry... been busy. Here's the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it. Thank  
you all so very much for all of your reviews, I love reading them. I haven't had a chance to answer them all  
so I thought I'd touch on a few of them here.**

**peacenotwar93, I'm really glad that you love this story so much. I know it seems like they're 'getting it on' a lot,  
but just remember that Rose had more or less thought she'd lost the love of her life only to have him returned and  
he thought he'd die without ever telling her just how much he loved her... Now they're together again...  
And generally when relationships are new and exciting, couples tend to be slightly 'over amorous'... then it cools down over time. ;-)**

**But I won't go too detailed into that side of their relationship all the time, I just wanted to get across their love, need for each other.**

**Now, for something a little different from me... I've been reading some stories both on FF VA and FF Twilight and have read some  
really wonderful stories. I don't think they're touted enough... :-)**

**One story I've read that is amazing is So What Now by Snowgoose. The thought that has gone into this story is amazing  
and she's done an amazing job in writing it. Without giving too much away, both Dimitri and Adrian camps will love it!  
Also, in twilight, there is an all human story called The University Of Edward Masen... WOW, what a story. I love how this man has  
put all the little details of Twilight into the story while making it completely original. It's a huge story, over 340,000 words and  
still going, but well worth the days it will take to read... LOL**

**There are other stories that I will give a shout out to, but will do that next chapter seeing as I've chatted so much here, but  
thanks for reading...**

**Sandy**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Being with Dimitri's family that night was amazing. The love in that house was somewhat foreign to me, sure I had people in my life that loved me and what Lissa and I shared was extremely deep, but this... the love that came from people to whom you had blood ties... well it made my heart ache. With a startling realisation it made me see what I'd never had but always wanted; that missing... _something_. We'd settled into the lounge room to speak, I of course became the hot topic... I normally didn't like talking about myself and my nonexistent family, but they all made me feel so at ease, it was nice... After a while everyone moved onto other topics.

"Are you alright Roza?" asked Dimitri's mother. Huh! I thought it was only Dimitri who had the ability to read me so easily, maybe it's a Belikov thing... Everyone else was laughing about something that Paul had told them and weren't paying too much attention to us.

"Yeah, I'm good. This is just so... different." Olena looked at me for a few seconds while nodding her head knowingly before taking my hand and leading me into the kitchen.

"It's been a long time since I've seen my son smile so much and I can tell that I have you to thank for that. When he lost Ivan, it affected him deeply. I never thought I'd see the light in his eyes again but it's there every time he looks at you, so thank you."

"Believe me, it's my pleasure. I never thought I'd ever have anyone love me like he does. I know how much Liss loves me, I feel it through the bond every day, but it's a sisterly love. As I said out there, my mother has never showed me any real affection, I don't know my father at all and have no siblings or extended family that I know of, so I feel very blessed that I found Dimitri and I will always treasure his love."

"I know you will. He told us you are an amazing fighter." She said changing the subject.

"Oh... I don't know if amazing is the right word, but whatever I am, I am only because of your son. Without him, I wouldn't be anything, he taught me so much, in fact... I'd probably be dead by now if it weren't for him. After he..." I stopped before I said anymore; I knew that this was something that Dimitri wanted to talk about tomorrow. "Um... I had other instructors as well before graduating, but it was he who taught me the most."

Olena smiled and nodded and I knew that she'd picked up on my little slip-up, but she could see it was something I wasn't going to talk about.

"You looked a little sad out there before, are you sure that everything is alright?"

"Oh, that? Yeah, I just never realised what I'd missed out on in my life before coming here. Seeing you all together... laughing, joking... hmm... it's amazing how you don't know what you're missing out on in life until it stares you in the face. Family is something I never thought I'd have, not a family of my own at least."

"Well, you have it now, that's all that matters." Olena patted my hand with hers before going to the cupboard to pull out a loaf of what looked to be a dark brown bread. "This is Dimitri's favourite, so much so that I had to end up teaching him to make his own."

"Oh, he told me about that." It was only about thirty seconds later when who should appear at the kitchen door, but Dimitri...

"Now that's one smell that I would know anywhere Mama." He came up behind his mother and kissed her cheek while trying to pinch a piece of bread from under her arm... I'm gathering that this was yet another 'family' ritual, this time between mother and son as she knew exactly what he was doing. She slapped the back of his hand as he tried to pinch a bit of the bread even though her eyes were shut, causing us all to laugh.

"Guests first Dimka, have you forgotten your manners?"

"No Mama," he said smiling as he kissed her again.

"Would you like some of Mama's famous black bread Roza? It's the best you'll ever eat." The look on his face made my heart skip a beat; the guardian mask was completely gone and he radiated absolute happiness. It wasn't a look I was used to seeing on his face; I'd seen something similar back at the academy but not this... well, not until recently. I'd seen this look after we'd finally made love... I'd always known that he loved me, but I think there was always a question of 'just how much?' that swam in my stupid, unconscious brain making me question it. Not now, not ever again... it was like the penny dropped, I finally 'got it'...

He of course noticed that something had been going on in my head, and an eyebrow lifted in question, but I ignored it for now.

"Yes, I'd love some." _I love you..._ I added silently. I don't know how long I sat staring into the beautiful brown eyes of my soul mate before he slowly made his way around to my side of the kitchen bench; he never took his eyes from mine.

"Penny for your thoughts..." he said softly once he stood in front of me.

"You love me..." I whispered. A melting smile played at his lips.

"Yes," He cupped my face in his hands and then bent down bringing our lips together softly, and then without pulling away, he continued. "...with all of my heart Roza." A hot tear ran down my cheek as I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. WOW.

We only broke apart when we heard an '_eeew'_ behind us. Paul had either come in here for some bread or for his uncle; I think the latter being the reason. I hadn't realised that I was no longer sitting down but I was actually dangling a foot off the ground, I'd obviously been too caught up in the kiss but as I tried to wriggle myself down, Dimitri just tightened his grip; I was obviously not going anywhere. Then I realised that Olena had made herself scarce as well...

"Definitely not '_eeew'_ Paul, you'll see one day." Dimitri told his nephew with a smile then he turned back to me and kissed me again. I could hear giggling but the normal embarrassment that I would have felt was no longer there and I kissed him back without reservation.

After our little make-out session in the kitchen, we went back out to the lounge room, Dimitri with bread in hand as if everyone here didn't know what we'd just been doing. The catching up continued but it wasn't long before everyone started yawning and Yeva decided it was bedtime.

"You're room has been made up, I'll see you two in the morning." Olena kissed her sons cheek and then mine as did his sisters then they all walked upstairs to their bedrooms, Yeva gave me a quick nod and walked out through the kitchen. She was a little creepy, but there was something about her that I really liked.

Before heading upstairs, Dimitri took my hand and pulled me to sit back on the lounge.

"What happened before, in the kitchen?" I knew he'd bring this up...

"Let's just say... it finally clicked."

"What finally clicked?"

"I always knew that we loved each other, don't get me wrong, but I think because of my past, there's always been a thought in my head that like everyone else in my life, your love wouldn't be strong enough to last and you would leave me one day too. But when you were with your mom, the love between you both was written all over your faces. I realised then that I'd seen that look on your face before... after we... made love. In that moment, that cloud of doubt in my mind disappeared, I finally realised...believed, in the depth of your love for me. I'll never doubt you again."

A small smile spread across his face and I knew he understood what I was trying to say. He bent forwards and kissed me before standing up and offering me a hand.

"Come on love, we have a big day tomorrow." I knew what he meant and as hard as it was for me to live through, I had a feeling it was going to be harder for Dimitri to recount it to his family, and to himself.

=x=

As expected, it was a long and emotional day. There were a few things missing in his retelling, but that wasn't because he didn't want them to know, they were the things that Oksana had deleted from his memory... things he didn't want or need to remember. What he did tell his family was bad enough. A few times during the day, the more emotional times, Dimitri would slip into Russian. He'd apologise to me after he realised his slip and tell me what he'd just said.

His mother could see the toll it was taking on him and I could see that it was taking a lot out of her as well, so she said that we'd talk more after lunch. His sister Sonya didn't make it through the last part of the story, she didn't want to cry in front of him so she went out back to collect her thoughts, that's where I found her.

"What isn't he telling us Roza?" She asked as I sat on the bench beside her. Glancing at her, I could see so much of her brother in her.

"What do you mean?"

"There's something...missing. There's more, isn't there?"

"There are things he doesn't remember Sonya." I decided that I'd tell her as much of the truth as I could. "He's not purposely keeping anything from you."

She gave me a confused look so I took a deep breath and tried to quickly organise my thoughts so that I could tell her something that would appease her.

"You know about my charge, Princess Vasilissa, how as a spirit user she has... certain abilities." She nodded so I continued. "Well, you know that Oksana is a spirit user as well right, well she has her own special abilities."

"I don't understand..."

"Sonya, there were things that happened in the twelve months that Dimitri was held captive that he... didn't want to remember. Things that he thought would stop him from being able to move forward in his life, so he asked Oksana to remove those memories." She looked out into the garden for a few minutes before looking back at me.

"But you know what those missing memories are, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Will you tell me?"

"No. Those memories were too hard for you brother to remember and are best left where they are... forgotten."

"He went through a lot didn't he?"

"Yes, but he'll get through this with his family's help. You've all helped him so much already."

=x=

All throughout dinner that night I could see something was bothering Dimitri. He would laugh at things his family said, he joined in the conversation but I could see that something was going on in his mind.

"What's wrong Dimitri?" We'd been lying together in bed for about ten minutes when I decided to break the silence.

"Just got a lot on my mind my love."

"Anything I can help with? You know that talking about things helps, keeping it bottled up isn't going to get you anywhere." I could feel him smile against my head as it rested against his shoulder.

"I know, and you're right but I just don't know what you'll think about what's going on in my head." I lifted myself up onto my elbow and looked down at him. I could tell that whatever was on his mind, it was something big.

"Well you'll never know what I think until you tell me." I traced my finger over some of his scars and waited for him to talk. It didn't take long for me to feel him relax underneath me.

"I told you before that I would no longer hide my feelings for you and I just don't know how that is going to correlate with us holding guardian positions at the Royal Court. We won't be accepted."

I knew what he was getting at; the same thing had been in my mind ever since I found him in the basement of the house at White Haven. Over the years, I'd heard of guardians who had fallen in love, they had been ordered to end it or leave... Some had ended their relationship and in an effort to get over their love, had asked to be assigned to overseas Moroi. Others had followed their hearts and resigned their charges, leaving the vampire community altogether. Both of these scenarios had played through my mind several times and I could see that they'd played in Dimitri's mind as well.

"We can try, maybe if they see that we be together and still do our jobs..." I said simply.

"And if we can't change their thoughts...?" He asked. I knew what he was asking.

"I won't live without you again Dimitri. We'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it, until then, I'm going to revel in what we have."

"I won't live without you either Roza. I only survived the last twelve months because of you. No-one, not even the queen will separate us again." He lifted himself up off the pillow and pushed me down as he kissed me. I loved kissing this man; he set my whole being on fire, body and soul.

"Breathe Roza," he said smiling against my lips, "... I can't have you pass out on me now..." I answered him with a growl as I brought our lips together with urgency and he responded instantly. It still amazed me how one person could have such an immediate and profound effect on me. It was like my body craved him as much as my soul did and the instant his hands started to explore my body, it came alive. I really had no idea how I could have lived without this for so long... without him, without his touch.

My brain couldn't form coherent words; all that came out of my mouth were moans of delight, which there was plenty of. His kisses and touches came harder and faster as his actions elicited more and more of a response from me, which in turn made me, do things to him that evoked the same response. We couldn't get enough of each other.

No matter how desperate we were for each other, he was always gentle with me. Afterwards, as we laid together still joined, neither one willing to break the connection, Dimitri lined the contours of my face with his fingers and looked deep into my eyes.

"I love you Rose... forever." I was about to say something to him but he pressed his finger to my lips. "I want to ask you something..." I nodded... "Will you marry me?"

Gasp...


	15. Chapter 14

**Hi Everyone, First of all, let me apologise for taking so long to update. My family was given some bad news and  
it's really taken me aback. My wonderful, amazing father was diagnosed with liver cancer and my mum isn't  
taking it too well. I will keep writing, but the updates may be a little hickledy-pickledy... **

**Any and all prayers will be welcomed whole heartedly. A world wide prayer would be amazing! His name is Roy.**

**Thanks everyone,  
Sandy**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**

"Will you marry me?"

I literally stopped breathing as I gasped... Did I hear him correctly? Did he really just say those four words? I don't know how long I stared into his eyes but I soon started to get a bit giddy.

"Breathe Roza..." I blinked and let out the breath that I didn't notice I'd been holding.

"You... Wha..." A number of things stuttered out of my mouth, none of it made any sense. My brain was moosh; I literally couldn't put two words together. A huge grin spread across his face and for a split second I thought he was going to start laughing and say that it had all been a joke. And in that split second when I thought he was going to take it back, all my jumbled emotions fell into place; I knew then just how much I wanted to be his wife...

"Have I rendered you speechless again?" He was still smiling but it wasn't as confident as it was before, it no longer reached his eyes.

"Yes..." I said almost breathlessly. By his lack of response and the lowering of his eyes, he obviously didn't know which question I'd just said yes to.

"Well? Do you want me to ask again?" I could see he was trying to hide his real emotions; he was trying not to let his nervousness show in his features. There was one thing that we both knew about each other and that was our ability to read each other's faces; that had never been a problem.

He looked back into my eyes as I swallowed the nonexistent saliva down my dry throat, then with everything in me, I tried to convey all of my feelings into my next word...

"Yes..." I said again staring into his eyes intently. I saw the instant that my answer dawned on him; I could see the glimmer of hope in his eyes, his head tilted slightly to his right as he tried not to get too excited before confirming my answer.

"Yes?" He asked tentatively, raising one eyebrow. I couldn't help but giggle at his expression.

"Yes, a thousand times yes..." I whispered to him. His face relaxed as his huge, heart-melting grin that I love so much spread across his face and then he let out a huge laugh as he kissed my lips, cheeks, nose, eyes... anywhere he could kiss, he did.

"I was getting a little worried there for a minute my love, but that was a '_yes'_ to my marriage proposal wasn't it?"

I reached up, grabbing him around the back of his head and pulled him to me and licked my tongue over his bottom lip. "Yes." I whispered against his mouth. "Did you honestly think that I would say anything else?"

"Well, it's not every day that dhampirs get married and we have spent the last twelve months apart. Then there's Liss..." I reached forward and pressed my lips to his in an effort to give him something else to think about.

"You talk too much..." I said as I kissed him. Gripping my hands tightly into the hair at the nape of his neck was like flicking a 'Dimitri on switch' so I found out, he let out a very sexy growl and I instantly became aware, _very_ aware that we were still joined from before. Needless to say he stopped talking and for the second time that night we made love, but this time we came together as fiancé's.

The next morning, well, mid morning... we finally managed to make our way downstairs. We walked into the kitchen to find everyone there.

"Well, hello there you two..." his mother said with a smile. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she did a double take at her son and then her look darted between us as her forehead creased up in curiosity.

"What's wrong Mama?" Dimitri asked.

"I don't know... why don't you tell me?" She couldn't know could she? I looked up at Dimitri and did my own double take. He looked like the proverbial cat that ate the canary... No wonder she knew something was up, she didn't have to have any psychic abilities when Dimitri had the smirk to end all smirks plastered on his face, then I wondered if I had the same look on my face.

I looked over to Yeva who was sitting at the kitchen table and it looked like she was biting the insides of her cheeks, like she was trying not to smile. I nudged Dimitri with my elbow making him look down at me but by the impish look in his eye I could see that he was going to draw the suspense out by playing ignorant...

"I have no idea Mama." He walked to the counter to where his mother stood, pulling me with him and kissed her on the cheek. "Beautiful morning, isn't it?" His mothers scrutinising look kept glancing from him to me and then finally over to Yeva who just shrugged her shoulders and continued to eat her bread.

"Are you feeling alright brother?" His sister Karolina asked with the same curious look that adorned his mother's face. She was sitting at the table with Sonya, Yeva and the children.

"I'm feeling _wonderful_ Kinka, thank you for asking." Obviously that was the short-form version of her name. With that, everyone, well everyone accept Yeva stood up and walked over to join their mother... We were about to be interrogated. I could see Dimitri was just about to burst with excitement; he was chewing the inside of his cheek like his grandmother was before, his self control was almost at breaking point.

"Alright, what's going on Dimka?" his mother said with her hands on her hips and in an 'I'm not messing around' tone...

Dimitri looked down at me and raised an eyebrow, to which I replied with a nod.

"Well..." he said turning back to his mother, "...I asked Roza to marry me." Suddenly all eyes were on me.

"Yes..." I answered with a smile but before I could say anything more the kitchen erupted in screams, bodies flung themselves at both Dimitri and I and almost manic voices rang out in Russian between excited laughter and clapping; I guess they were happy... I had no idea what was being said, but the look on Dimitri's face was enough for me. He literally beamed... I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked to my right to see Yeva standing beside me.

"Welcome child. I've been waiting a long time for you to join us." I didn't know if I should feel creeped out by that statement or not, I chose not to be... Dimitri had told me a little about his grandmother and her uncanny accuracy in the things she saw; evidently she knew something I didn't. I took comfort in the knowledge that my life was obviously heading in the direction that it was supposed to.

I hadn't checked on Liss in nearly a full day and when I felt anxiety flow through the bond, it was strong enough to pull me into her head.

"_Something's going on Christian, I know it, I can feel it." Lissa said._

"_I'm sure if it's something bad Rose will let you know. What are you feeling through the bond?" he asked her as he pulled her over to the sofa._

"_I'm not sure, I guess the strongest feeling I'm aware of is love, but there's something else there... You saw me last night, her emotions took my breath away, I just wish she'd call me and let me know that she's alright."_

"_Well she might if she's listening in right now." Lissa looked up into Christian's eyes._

"_You think she is?" She said hopefully._

"_Well, you are a bit...strung out; she's probably felt it and come to see what's going on." He squinted his eyes and leant in closer to Lissa's face like he was trying to see me in her eyes. "If you're in there Rosie Poo, I expect the phone to ring – real soon..." A lop-sided smirk pulled at his mouth, I'm guessing the 'Rosie Poo' was to antagonise me into doing his bidding... yeah, well... it worked._

I pulled out of Lissa head to see five sets of eyes trained on me. Yeva sat in her previous spot at the table as if she'd seen someone vacate their own consciousness hundreds of times before, but everyone else was staring at me expectantly.

"I'm back!" I said grinning at everyone. "Did I miss much?" No-one asked what had happened like what normally happens, so I guessed that Dimitri had reminded them about the bond.

"Is Lissa alright?" Dimitri asked.

"Yeah, I need to call her though, she knows something's up, she felt my emotions and she's worried."

"Oh, here, you'll get better reception out in the back yard." He said as he handed me his cell phone. He planted a quick kiss on my forehead before I left to make the call. It hadn't even finished ringing once on my end of the line before Lissa picked up on the other end.

"Rose! What's going on?" She yelled down the line.

"Well, hello to you too Liss."

"Hello... now what's going on?" I had to laugh; she was so impatient at times.

"Well everything is good here, but tell Firebug that if he calls me Rosie Poo again, he may have to work out another way of feeding, 'cause he won't have any fangs left after I'm finished with him." This caused her to giggle before speaking to Christian.

"Yes Christian, she was there and she told me to tell you that..."

"Liss! Speak to me, not him... I'm the one calling long distance."

"Sorry Rose. So, are you going to tell me what all the feelings were last night?"

"Umm..."

"Rose! Spill it!"

"Alright, alright... Are you sitting down?"

"I am now..." I could feel apprehension rising, fearing that something was wrong.

"Well... Dimitri asked me to marry him..." There was silence on the other end of the line. "Liss?"

"Please tell me you said yes..." I could hear in her voice that she was like a geyser ready to explode.

"Well what do you think? Of course I said yes."

I pulled the phone away from my ear as Lissa's scream came down the line. I heard a chuckle of laughter behind me and I turned to see Dimitri smiling down at me.

"I'm gathering she's happy about the news?" He said.

"Just a little... You should feel her emotions; they're louder than her screaming."

Liss and I spent the next ten minutes talking about what had gone on since arriving here and I told her that I'd call her again in two days, I could feel how happy she was for us, but underneath it all she was just as worried as we were on how we were going to be received when we got home.

After we said our goodbyes, Dimitri and I sat on a garden bench in the back yard and enjoyed the sunlight together, and for the very first time in my life, I could actually imagine a life that didn't involve me guarding Lissa. I didn't know if that knowledge scared me or not and if it didn't, why? Was it because it was something that deep down I wanted or if it did scare me, was it because it was something that would make me have to choose between the two loves of my life, my sister and my soul?

That day Dimitri decided to show me around his home town, all the haunts he and his friends used to frequent... A few times I even had to stop walking and just stare at him in disbelief when he'd tell me some of the things he used to get up to, who would have thought he could be so... delinquent. Some of the things he told me he did really surprised me and gave me hope that this new 'Dimitri' that I'd seen in the last couple of days was actually the real 'Dimitri' who he had hidden underneath his carefully constructed, years in the making, guardian mask.

By the time we made it up to bed that night, I found myself falling in love with his family as well. They had opened their hearts and home to me like they'd always known me, it was an acceptance that was very unfamiliar to me yet at the same time it was something that I recognised immediately. I was home.


	16. Chapter 15

**Hi Everyone, I'm so sorry for my really, really long absence. Life as you all know, has a habit of getting in the  
way sometimes. First, I'd like to say a deepfelt thank you to everyone who sent me messages of support for my dad.  
He's now on Gleevec and hopefully we will see some positived results soon.**

**Now... THIS CHAPTER IS ALMOST ONE BIG SUGARY SWEET LEMON! **

**This is a very much so 'M' rated chapter, so if you don't want to read it, then you've been warned... I've broken it up a bit (before and after)  
so if you want to read those bits then you can. Not much of importance happens until the last little bit, so you can scroll down to there if you'd like.**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen**

I woke up to a lot of talking downstairs; I couldn't work out what they were saying because it was all in Russian. By the sounds of things, I was the only one still in bed... no surprise really. It wasn't long before I heard the sound of a door being closed and to me it sounded like the front door but I could be wrong. I layed there for a little while longer but when I heard no more noise, I thought I'd get up and see what was going on, but before I got a chance, Dimitri opened the bedroom door.

"Good morning sunshine." He said with a smile. He leant his shoulder against the doorway, his arms crossed at his chest and his feet crossed at the ankles. No matter how many times I looked at him, he still took my breath away and made my insides go to moosh. God he was one yummy man.

"Sunshine my ass..." I grumbled. No matter how yummy he was, I was so _not_ a morning person and he damn well knew it. "What are you so chipper about? You do realise that it's way too early to be _chipper_!"

"Roza..." he said chuckling, "...Just your sunny disposition makes me 'chipper' as you put it, you should know that." His grin just kept getting wider and wider, and as hard as I was trying not to smile back... I just couldn't do it. I mean, how could I with God's gift to... well, me... standing a few feet away looking way to sexy for his own good.

"Yeah well... I can see why." I said with a shrug. "I just don't know why more people over the years couldn't appreciate all this awesomeness as much as you obviously do."

"Hmm, maybe they just don't _know_ you the way I do." He said. The way he said that made my eyebrows shoot up my forehead. So many thoughts shot through my mind right at that moment, thoughts that might not be really appropriate with a houseful of people and I know I heard everyone talking downstairs before but the house did seem rather quiet right now...

"True, but that doesn't explain – you." He looked a little confused so I went straight ahead and explained. "Well, they don't know _you_ the way I do either, but they all seem to love you..."

"Maybe it's because I'm so 'chipper'..." Oh, that was a good one... I wouldn't let him know it though so I just gave him the most belligerent look I could muster up. "Or it could be that most people think it's an honour knowing me..."

"Phft!" I spluttered... I could tell he was mucking around but I could see that he was just a little bit serious too. "An honour... knowing you?" I said while trying to contain the laughter that was just itching to spurt out.

"Well, I could come and remind you how nice it can be, _knowing_ me."_ Holy crap!_

I stare at him open mouthed as my body shivered. I was stunned, the synapses in my brain were firing but they couldn't make a connection between the words that wanted to come out and my tongue, they were too busy sending their messages somewhere else entirely. This morning suddenly got a whole lot better. He pushed away from the doorway and stooped down ever so minutely, but I saw it; his head dropped and he looked at me under his lashes. He took a step or two forward, his movements lithe and graceful.

"What do you say to that, Miss Hathaway?" I still couldn't speak as I realised that his movements could only be described as 'predatory', he was stalking me. The goosebumps were rolling across my skin in anticipation of what I believed was going to be a _very _good morning indeed. Before I realised that I'd even moved, I found myself out of bed and moving towards him. We stopped a foot apart and he lifted his hand to my face, his fingers tracing from my ear to my chin and I shivered again in response.

His brown eyes burned at me, his challenge clearly declared in his stare. His lips parted as he waited for my response, he was coiled ready to strike. Seeing Dimitri this intense stirred my desire for him – acute and smouldering – to suddenly combust deep in my belly. I couldn't take it anymore; he always did have more self control than me. I took pre-emptive action and launched myself at him. I had to have him now, but somehow I didn't end up where I'd planned – wrapped around his body, instead he had moved in the blink of an eye and I have no idea how, but I ended up on the bed, pinned beneath him and my arms stretched up and held above my head.

By this time my heart was violently trying to beat its way through my ribs; my breathing was deep and hard. The fire in his eyes and the musky, male scent that was all Dimitri were the only two things that now registered in my brain. His free hand cupped my face as the sexiest smirk pulled at one side of his gorgeous mouth and before I could say or do anything his lips crashed against mine.

This was _definitely NOT _the Dimitri I was used to, but I likedthis one a _LOT_! His tongue pushed against my lips, not asking but claiming me, possessing me, and I revelled in the force he used. The feeling of his body against mine, the weight, the strength, the power... he was able to command my body's utter obedience without a single word, his touch was all he needed, hell, all he _really_ needed to do was look at me.

**START OF 'M' SCENE**

Since getting him back, he's shown a whole different side of himself, one more than willing to show his desire for me; I'd always known that he'd buried that part of himself, thinking that it would never be a part of his 'guardian' life. I don't think I'll ever get used to the feelings I experience when I see how I affect this amazing man.

"Ungh... please." I moaned into his mouth. I don't normally beg for anything, but for him... I'd beg till my last breath. His hand left my face and ran down my side to my hip, leaving the skin under my clothes feeling hot under its wake.

"Please what Roza? Tell me." He whispered the last part against my ear; gently licking the outside shell of my ear.

_Oh... that voice..._ I was about to burst.

"Tell me what you want." He said bringing me back to the moment.

"You..." I whispered. I felt the grin on his lips widened just a bit... he knew what he did to me and he loved it.

"Where Roza? Where do you want me?"

_You're friggin kidding me... _That was the only thought in my head... He wants me to be explicit?

"Everywhere." I said breathlessly. I didn't know if he heard me at first because his lips at my neck never missed a beat but the growl I got soon after went straight to my centre and let me know he had wicked things in mind.

"_That_ I can do... Close your eyes my love."

_Oh! _Even though his voice was barely more than a whisper, my body trembled at the power it held and my eyes closed eagerly.

"Leave your hands where they are." _Anything you say..._

As his fingers ghosted down the soft skin of my arms, leaving goosebumps trailing behind them, I felt him sit up above me. From my arms, his fingers moved over my collarbone, then down my chest between my breasts and then to my stomach.

"I think you're _way_ overdressed..." The hand that was on my hip joined the other on my stomach and they slowly inched made their way to the skin under my tank top and I felt the familiar zap of electricity the moment his fingers touched me. "You look a little..._hot_... in this. Let me cool you down."

_Yes... cool me down. I'm way too overheated... Oh God, I'm going to hyperventilate soon if he doesn't hurry up._

Slowly he brought my shirt up as his hands travelled up my body. I lifted my head off the bed to make it easier for him, but was surprised when instead of my tank top coming completely away from me; it wrapped around my wrists. _Now it's getting good... _I watched as his eyes fell to my lips and continued their way to my chest. With an action that I don't think he realised that he even did, his tongue slowly came out and licked his bottom lip before he drew it in between his teeth.

"Hmmm," he hummed. Without taking his eyes away from my body, he leant forward and kissed the soft skin above my left breast. My eyes closed on their own accord as I fell into a state of sensory bliss. The feeling of his hot lips against my skin sent me into another world. My back arched as the tip of his tongue brushed against my taut nipple, willing him to do more, a moan escaped as I got my wish. He opened his mouth and sucked hard against my sensitive flesh, his tongue moved against me sending tingles straight down to my toes.

Without thought, as his other hand kneaded my other breast, rolling and pinching the nipple between his fingers, I brought my bound hands down to his gloriously soft hair, thanking him for his forethought in leaving it down. As my fingers gripped hard, his hand left its ministrations and made its way down my now writhing body and his mouth changed sides.

"Oh Roza..." he growled as his hand slipped under the elastic of my panties. "You're so wet..." I didn't know how much more I could take. His voice, his words... his mouth in general, his fingers... they'd all worked my body into a frenzy and it needed release, bad.

"Dimitri... please..." His mouth silenced mine from anything else I might say as his fingers slid into the soft folds of my throbbing sex. "Ungh!" I moaned. With gentleness that he only showed to me, those fingers traced the outside of my opening before finding and tantalising the tiny bundle of nerves that were screaming to be touched.

I let my displeasure be known when his lips left mine, suddenly cold without his warmth pressed hard against them, but my neck soon heated up as he trailed wet kisses down to my collarbone.

"I need to taste you again." He said, at least that's what I thought he said, my head was too thick with the fog of passion to be completely sure. My eyes opened and I was about to complain when I felt his hand move away from my hot core but I was silenced by the look in his eyes. He was now sitting on his heals at the foot of the bed and without losing eye contact; his magic fingers slipped into the sides of my panties and slowly pulled them down my legs. Once they were taken care of and thrown somewhere in the room, his eyes left mine and inch by agonising inch, made their way down my now naked body.

"You are exquisite," he said with an almost reverence "...and you're mine." With those last few words, his hands moved to the inside of my knees and opened my legs before settling himself in between. A moment of slight embarrassment flashed into my mind but was soon replaced with need as he growled once again. He slipped his hands under my thighs as he leant forward from his sitting position to lay on his stomach and then he placed a soft kiss on the inside of my leg while positioning my legs over his shoulders.

I bit my lip in anticipation of what I knew was coming, one part of me thought I should look away, another wanted to watch everything that he was about to do. He opened his eyes and looked at me under his thick lashes, the intensity of his eyes made my insides clench. I stopped breathing as the tip of his tongue touched me and slowly made its way up.

"Mmmm..." he moaned. His eyes closed as he opened his mouth against me and pulled me in. The feeling that would always take my breath away warmed my entire body even more that it had previously been, my hands gripped the sheets as my eyes closed and I threw my head back into the pillow.

"Oh _shit!_" I yelled. My mind swirled but I couldn't think of any one thing, I was completely consumed by what he was doing to me. I could feel the warmth spreading from my centre and start to envelope me; mind, body and soul. My eye sprang open and my hips bucked up from the bed as Dimitri pushed his fingers into me. "Oh... fuck, Dimitri!" My still bound hands moved of their own compulsion and wound into his hair.

The sight of his mouth on me while we stared into each other's eyes was my undoing, my walls clenched tight around his fingers.

"That's it Roza, feel me..." Dimitri said as he continued moving his fingers in and out, curling them inside to hit _that_ spot. He truly was a God!

Before my body came down from its high, Dimitri moved up and covered my body with his own, sliding himself into me.

"Ungh Rose, you feel so good." My hands wrapped around his shoulders, my nails digging into his back as I lifted my legs around his waist. My eyes rolled back in my head as he filled me completely. I turned my head to the side as his mouth ran hot kisses up my neck in-between little nips.

"Harder Dimitri, I need to feel you deep inside." That's all the encouragement he needed. His hands moved up between my back and the bed and gripped onto my shoulders. His hips slammed against mine as he pushed further inside me; two thrusts were all it took to send me over the edge once more.

"Oh Roza, I love feeling you come around me." Once he felt me tighten around him, he thrust once more and released inside me. "Da! Bozhe moy!" I had no idea what he just said, but whatever it was... I loved it!

I felt Dimitri's body relax in the wake of his orgasm then he reached back and lifted my left leg away from his waist. When he rolled us over onto our sides without breaking our connection, I realised that neither one of us wanting to let go of each other just yet.

**END OF 'M' SCENE**

"You are my heart Roza, I love you so much." He said as he held my face in his hand and looked into my eyes but I could see that there was something he wasn't saying. I heard his words, the emotion behind them but there was something else there deep in his eyes. Before I could say anything else he leant forward and kissed my lips so softly.

"Is there something wrong Dimitri?" I asked him when we pulled apart.

"No, nothing is wrong maya krasaveetsa. Thank you for never losing hope, for loving me." Again he said all the right words, but he was slightly... aloof?

"My heart has always been yours Dimitri. It's never belonged to anyone other than you, never will." I sealed my promise with another kiss, but again I could see that he was hiding something; I saw the flash in his eyes before he quickly tried to hide it. I knew I should have shut up but I kept at him, wanting to know what I saw in his eyes.

"Enough Rose, I'm fine." He said in a clipped tone. It was a tone I knew, a tone that said 'conversation over'...

_For now..._

I laid with my cheek against his rock hard muscles of his chest, breathing his wonderful scent while listening to the steady beat of his heart as images of the last year and a bit flashed through my mind. Remembering the pain I went through when he disappeared and no-one believing me made tears sting at eyes. The initial conviction that he wouldn't have just up and left without a word to anyone and then the doubt that crept into my mind that that was exactly what he did...

Then came the anger at him for his abandonment, the anger at myself for thinking that way, the anger at everyone else for not believing, for not caring, for being there when he wasn't. All of these feelings and thoughts swirled in my head in the weeks after he went missing. But after all of that came the months of longing, months of not knowing but desperately holding onto our love in hopes that one day I'd see him again. And when I did... the feeling is something that I will never forget, ever.

But _this_ feeling, being in his arms, being filled by him, mind, body and soul... I know now that I could never survive without him again. Suddenly a memory flashed into my mind, the memory of Abby Badica's guardian who ran off with another guardian, I was so adamant that what they did was wrong in so many ways. They abandoned their charges, two families left without protection...now, now I understood. Even with my unbreakable bond to Lissa, I could fully understand why and how those guardians chose to be together rather than a lonely life that had a high chance of leading to a violent death.

We heard the phone ringing downstairs as we laid together so Dimitri quickly got up to answer it. He hopped and stumbled into his jeans as he made his way downstairs. I got up quickly jumped into the shower; there was no point in trying to understand what was being said, it was all in Russian. Before I was able to get my hair washed, the shower curtain was being pulled back.

"We need to leave." Dimitri said solemnly. I could see by his face that something was definitely not right.

"What's wrong?"

"My youngest sister, Viktoria, she's been hurt in an attack at the academy. We need to go." I gave a quick nod and turned the shower off. "I've left a note for Mama telling her where we've gone and telling her to ring my cell when she gets home. She'll probably meet us at the school later on."

Within five minutes, I was dressed and sitting on Dimitri's old motorbike.

"This actually runs?" I asked him speculatively.

"It may have been a while, but as with all things Russian, it's tough and built to last." As stoic his expression was, I could hear the lightness in his voice, his previous irritation with me hopefully forgotten. A couple of pumps on the peddle thingy and the old engine roared to life, extracting a funny grin from Dimitri. I always knew there was a rebel buried deep down inside of him. I jumped onto the seat behind him and we were soon on our way to St Basil's. I had no idea how badly she was hurt or if anyone else had been hurt or killed, I guess we'd soon find out.

**Chapter notes:**

**For those that haven't read some of my other stories and don't know some of the Russian expressions I use, 'Maya Krasaveetsa' means 'my beauty', and 'Bozhe Moy' means 'Oh my God'... Don't forget to leave me lots of reviews, let me know if you like these sort of chapters enough to want more of them, or you liked it but not for this story... etc.  
Also, where do you guys see this story going? I have it all planned out and I'd like to see if anyone can guess? :-D It may not be where you all think... (insert evil laugh here!)**

**Thanks everyone,**

**Sandy**


	17. Chapter 16

**Hi again... At least it's only 2 weeks this time... :-)  
First thing... With the last chapter, I know it was a little risque...and not normally something I write, but it needed to be in the story  
and I also wanted to see if I could go that step further... As you've seen with my other stories, they're more plot that 'just sex'... but there is  
a method to my madness... it will all be explained further on. **

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate it. I'm glad everyone is liking the story. Sorry for not getting back to you, but know  
that I do read each and every one that comes through. **

**This chapter is from Dimitri's POV and I hope it explains some of your questions...**

**Now... On with the story. :-D  
Sandy**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen**

DPOV

The dank, damp smell that permeated into every fibre of my being curled its ugly fingers into my lungs over and over. We'd been kept at this God forsaken hole for nearly two weeks so we must be moving soon if the strigoi's movement pattern was as normal. I think I've been held for eight or... nine months now, I'm not sure anymore. Only my memories of my heart, my soul... my Roza, keep me going; I have to survive, I have to see her again. Did she cry when I was taken? I'm pretty sure she didn't really; I think she would have been too busy trying to find me, if there's one word to describe Rose... it's 'tenacious'. She would have known that I wouldn't have just left, but the others..? I did tell Alberta that I was thinking of leaving, so the possibility of them not trying to find out where I went was quite high. My stubbornness and stupidity at trying to keep distance from Roza really did have far reaching consequences, more than I ever thought possible.

I heard the taunting laughter of the strigoi as they walked down the hallway to our 'rooms'. They knew that it spooked the humans, and some of the younger guardians truth be told, so they did it every chance they could get. The older more experienced guardians who were more used to dealing with their mind games... well; they had other forms of mental torture for us.

As some of the humans slowly lost their minds, they became food, or worse. The strigoi would assemble all of the captives and feed off the ones that broke or turn them and make us watch them slowly turn into a soulless shell; this undermined the fragile threads that held some of the weaker minds together. I'd been left alone for the last few days; it was just a matter of time before they came for me again. Over the last few months, I'd become good at keeping my heart rate from climbing when they'd come for me. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

The door opens... _Yup... my turn._

No matter how often I see their eyes, it's something that I will never grow accustomed to.

"Get up." The strigoi that came for me this time was Baker; he was a particularly cruel one. Even though he was a human before being turned, he must have been a particularly nasty one. He was the strigoi that the others would turn to whenever they felt like watching their version of a horror movie. He was the one who revelled in torture more than the other strigoi, something I never thought would be possible.

I sat on the floor, not moving an inch. This was my form of defiance... Lord knows in my weakened state, that's all I could do right now.

"I said, _Get. Up. Guardian_." His cold, dead eyes narrowed at me and when his cruel smirk followed, I knew what was coming... pain, head-splitting, soul destroying pain. I grabbed at my head and squeezed, surely if I pressed hard enough, I'd be able to crush my skull and be done with this once and for all. Feeling this pain, it was impossible to think that it could get worse...but it could, it always could.

My hands dropped as the pain increased and I knew that my insolence, my opposition was done and my only option now was to move. I didn't know if I was able to do anything but crawl, but I vowed that the day that happened was the day I'd do everything in my power to kill myself, I would _never_ crawl to the feet of a strigoi. Somehow, I got to my feet. I may have done it on shaky legs and blurred vision but I got up and walked to the bastard.

"I didn't think you'd last this long Dhampir, you're strong... I'll give you that." Baker sneered. "You really are the epitome of your race aren't you? You'll make a fine addition to our ranks after you've fulfilled your role in our plan."

"I'll die first..." I growled at him. If I wasn't in so much pain, I would have at least tried to wipe the sneer off his face.

"Oh, don't worry... that will happen too. _Move." _He released the pain in my head...slightly, and I walked down the hall that lead to the main living rooms of the house, wondering what I was to face this time. Feedings, beatings, orders to hunt for them... or... _that_. It's been a while since they made me do _that_, could my luck really hold out? Apparently not.

"Ah... I was wondering what was taking you so long Baker." Said the female strigoi that was my normal 'keeper'. "Being feisty again was he?"

"Nothing I can't handle. But yes, he was being a little – belligerent." Just then the door opened behind me and a female human was pushed into the room.

"No..." she whimpered. "Please..." I closed my eyes and tried to swallow the bile rising from my stomach. The strigoi made sure that while our bodies were under their complete control; our minds knew exactly what was happening. All I knew was that I couldn't do it again, I _had_ to fight back. Either bend to their torture or fight back with everything I had till I was too much trouble and they'd just kill me... I decided on the latter. Doing a quick assessment of those around me, numbers and location, I decided to go right for the largest – Baker.

I swung to my left, pushing my leg out into a roundhouse kick. He didn't expect this... He stumbled backwards and I came at him again. Fists... feet... anything I could do; they may have tried to weaken me through starvation, but adrenalin was a powerful tool. I had no stake obviously, but there were things in this room that I could turn into weapons. The one thing that set me apart from everyone else at my academy when I was young was my unusual ability (for a male apparently) to multi-task. I could fight while assessing other potential dangers all while looking for weapons.

The other strigoi in the room thought the show I was providing for them was great entertainment, even if they'd had other ideas for me, but that all changed when I was able to stake Baker with a broken leg of a chair. They knew as well as I did that it wouldn't permanently harm him, but the fact that I was able to achieve this at all pissed them off like I'd never seen before. As I stood up from the prostrate form on the floor and turned to face an eerily quiet room, five strigoi rushed at me... and by their faces, all ideas of me entertaining them tonight were long forgotten. I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders and pictured the only face that I wanted to be looking at... Rose...

-x-

My eyes sprung opened and my heart was thumping behind its cage of bone and cartilage. Sweat covered my panting, shaking body and stuck the sheets to my skin. I went to sit up but something stopped me, my now open eyes flicked to my left where I felt something beside me... _Rose?_

I squeezed my eyes shut hoping that when I opened them, she'd really be here.

_Yes?... How?_

I was so confused... Where in the hell was I? The room was dark as usual, but there was no damp smell trying to pull me down. I pulled my arm out slowly from under the head of... I sat up and tried to take in my surroundings, I listened for the noises... _they_ always made noises.

There were no noises.

My eyes adjusted and I could see more, the moonlight bringing the walls around me to life. A desk, a bookcase – my old room. I looked back to the person beside me and I remembered. I found her, she found me... The battle... It really happened, she's really here. No more feedings, no more beatings, no more hunting, no more... no more...

What I couldn't work out was the bit about me hurting... some of the other captives. I know I would have remembered _that_ before now. I remembered all the rest; the scars on my neck and body reminded me every day. Was this what Rose had said I'd had pulled from my memories? She'd told me that I'd asked Oksana to take some of my memories away and I know that this one would definitely be one I'd hate to remember.

I don't know how long I sat there for, memories that I wanted gone were suddenly back. I had to master this; I had to overcome it so I laid back down and turned my head to face her. She was so beautiful, so fierce... My body tensed when she moved into me. Her arm crossed over my chest, her leg over mine. My eyes shut as the fragrance of her rose scented shampoo flooded my senses. This and the warmth of her body against mine stirred something inside of me... Memories of me... with her, in that way, intermingled with the memories of what _they'd_ made me do and now my thoughts and feelings weren't what they should be. I needed to distance myself from her, regroup, before I did something that couldn't be taken back.

I glanced at the clock beside me as my feet hit the floorboards, 3:13am. I gently stood up so that I wouldn't disturb her and looked back at the priceless gift in my bed as I opened my bedroom door. I _had_ to overcome this. I'm stronger than this, it _won't_ rule me. I make my way to the small gym out in the shed in the back yard. The next two hours I fought the inner demons I hadn't realised were there. But they were, they were just...forgotten, but not anymore. After destroying the punching bag I felt a lot better, unfortunately it only represented two of the cold, pale faces before finally emptying its contents onto the floor. I quickly showered in the makeshift shower I'd put in here years ago and then went back to house.

I walked into the kitchen and saw that everyone was up, well everyone except Rose, and they were all getting ready for their day.

"Good morning son." My mother said with a smile. "I thought I heard you out there." She glanced down at my hands and saw the mess I'd made of them, but she didn't say anything. She knew me...

"Good morning Mama. Babushka..."

"Oh that's nice Dimka... Don't _I_ deserve a 'good morning'?" I couldn't help but smile at my sister. She always knew what I needed.

"I don't know... do you?" I said trying for a little banter. All I got in reply was a tongue being poked at me. "Good morning sister." She smiled as she picked up her bag and motioned my nephew Paul towards the front door.

"Sonya has already left for work and your sister and I need to go shop for food; we'll be back in a few hours. Babushka is going to visit Mark and Oksana today... you too should go visit them son..." I gave a small smile as I leant down to kiss my meddling mother. She'd told me a number of times since being here that Oksana had asked about me since they had returned from the States, but I just hadn't been ready to face her, possibly answer certain questions that I'd rather not hear asked. I know some would say I was in denial, but as far as I was concerned... it was _just_ a river in Egypt. I smiled as I remembered the time Rose had said that...

"Okay Mama, we'll be here when you get back." She didn't miss the fact that I'd essentially ignored her about Oksana, but she patted my cheek and walked to the front door with the others. After telling me to rest today; that I was here to recuperate and copious amounts of ribbing from my big sister for being a mama's-boy, I finally stood alone in my childhood home, alone apart from my sleeping heart upstairs.

Yesterday had been such a wonderful day, she'd said yes... and now... Just thinking about her made my body react, it now knew her intimately and there was no going back from that. I craved her mentally and physically now and from where I stood at the bottom of the stairs; I could see the door to my room...

I needed her... I wanted her... And I was not going to let _those _memories take her away from me. I was going to prove to Rose and to myself that I was in control... complete and utter control. Before I knew it, I was standing outside my bedroom door. I could hear her rustling in the sheets and her slight sniffles told me she was awake. My heart picked up speed as I reached for the handle and opened the door.

"Good morning sunshine." I said smiling. She was stunning.

"Sunshine my ass... What are you so chipper about? You do realise that it's way too early to be _chipper_!" Rose was never a morning person, but seeing her sitting there, on my bed... it made my heart soar.

"Roza..." I couldn't help but laugh, "...Just your sunny disposition makes me 'chipper' as you put it, you should know that."

"Yeah well... I can see why." She said in her sassy, smart-ass way. "I just don't know why more people over the years couldn't appreciate all this awesomeness as much as you obviously do."

"Hmm, maybe they just don't _know_ you the way I do." I loved bantering with her like this... This was 'us', this was what I would hold on to... I could see that she was a little taken back from my forwardness; it was something that I'd never been with her. But she recovered quickly...

"True, but that doesn't explain – you." I didn't know what she meant by that and I was about to ask but she soon explained. "Well, they don't know _you_ the way I do either, but they all seem to love you..."

"Maybe it's because I'm so 'chipper'..." Her expression nearly made me laugh. "Or it could be that most people think it's an honour knowing me..."

"Phft! An honour... knowing you?" I knew she was joking, and I was too...somewhat. But I was done mucking around, I needed her... now.

"Well, I could come and remind you how nice it can be, _knowing_ me."

For the next hour, we immersed ourselves in one another.

I needed her, but I also needed to know that I could control myself and not slip into _those_ memories like I did back at the mansion after she found me. I would never forgive myself if I hurt her like that, I would literally die, inside and out.

I kept control, but images of the last twelve months kept flashing through my mind. Every time an unwanted memory or face would invade, I'd push it away with Rose... Rose's image, Rose's scent... Memories of before I was taken, memories of before I remembered _that..._ I kept control, like I had to, but she could see that something was not right with me. She could always see... When everyone around me was utterly blind, she could always see.

"Is there something wrong Dimitri?" she asked me.

"No, nothing is wrong maya krasaveetsa. Thank you for never losing hope, for loving me." I was trying to steer her away from her current line of thought, but I still wanted to say those words.

"My heart has always been yours Dimitri. It's never belonged to anyone other than you, never will." I knew this in my soul, but I was still a man, and it soothed me to hear the words. I had hoped she'd leave it there, but she was Rose after all... She kept going, kept asking if I was alright...

"Enough Rose, I'm fine." I hadn't meant to be so short with her and I regretted my tone as soon as the words left my mouth, but I needed to pull myself together, memories, emotions... They needed to be reigned in before they took over and I did something I'd live to regret.

She thankfully stopped her questioning and cuddled into me, it was nice... but the memories never left me. It wasn't long before I heard the phone ringing downstairs so I got up and grabbed my jeans that I'd thrown on the ground. My toe caught in the crutch making me stumble but they were on by the time I got to the top of the stairs.

"Hello, Belikov residence."

"Is Olena Belikova there please?" I heard the stress in the voice of the woman on the other end of the line.

"She's not here right now, this is her son Dimitri, is there something I can help you with?" There was silence for a minute before the woman started speaking again.

"Dimitri? Is that really you?"

"Who is this?" I asked.

"It's Alexia Ivanov, from St Basils." Ah... She was one of the Moroi teachers. "Dimitri, there's been an attack here at the school."

"Is everyone alright?" My mind was instantly switched into guardian mode at her words.

"No. We've lost a number of guardians and teachers and way too many students. Dimitri, your sister..." My jaws clenched as I waited... _Please don't let her be dead... _"She's hurt... Nothing too serious, but serious enough. You need to get your mother here."

"Yes, she should be home soon, but I can be out there in half an hour to help..." I'd meant it as an offer, but it sort of came out as a question. They would have known about me being missing and I didn't know if they'd welcome my help.

"Oh really? You'd come? We'd be so grateful for any help you could give us. Dimitri... they..." her voice started to break and as much as I felt for her, the longer I wasted on the phone, the longer it would be until I could help.

"Don't worry Mrs Ivanov. We'll be there shortly."

"We?"

"Yes. Guardian Rose Hathaway is here also." I heard her gasp at the recognition of Rose's name and it made me proud. She'd accomplished so much and she'd done it all on her own. "I'll let you go and be there as soon as I can."

"Thank you Dimitri, I'll let the guard at the gate know that you're coming."

"Okay, I'll be on a motorbike."

"Okay."

I hung up the phone, scribbled a quick note to Mama and took off upstairs. I'd heard the water pipes banging in the walls while I was on the phone, so I knew she was in the shower. I walked into the bathroom and pulled the shower curtain back.

"We need to leave."

"What's wrong?"

"My youngest sister, Viktoria, she's been hurt in an attack at the academy. We need to go." She didn't ask anything else, she just put the shampoo bottle that was in her hand, back on the shelf and turned the water off.

"I've left a note for Mama telling her where we've gone and telling her to ring my cell when she gets home. She'll probably meet us at the school later on."

Within minutes, we were downstairs at my old motorbike... I only hoped that it would still run.

"This actually runs?" _Yeah, she read me like a book..._

"It may have been a while, but as with all things Russian, it's tough and built to last." I needed something to ease the screaming panic in my brain, and bantering with Rose always did the trick. The bike resisted starting at first but a few kicks and her heart thumped loudly to life. _I missed this sound... _I couldn't help the smile tug at my mouth. Rose jumped on behind me and wrapped her arms around me tight. I knew she wouldn't be scared, but I hoped that it was her way of telling me she'd hold me together if I couldn't...

The problem that our society faced as far as our academies were concerned was the fact that we needed to keep them hidden from prying human eyes. That meant cover, normally in the way of trees and lots of them. Our academies were out in the middle of nowhere, hidden, concealed... But those 'cloaking' trees that provided the privacy essential to our survival also came with a price. They allowed no sunlight to penetrate, giving our mortal enemies a place to hide during the daylight hours.

To get to St Basil's, Rose and I would have to ride the gauntlet of thick trees and a long, sunless dirt road. I only hoped that the strigoi had got what they'd come for and were no longer in the area.


	18. Chapter 17

**I know, I know... I'm slack... But, here's the next chapter. This one is a little longer, so hopefully you'll all forgive me for being so late... :-)**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I'm really glad you're enjoying the story.  
Anyway, I hope you like this one... but let me know what you all think.  
Talk soon, Sandy!**

* * *

**Chapter 17**

"What was all that about this morning Dimitri? Not that I minded..." Rose still had me around the waist, still holding tight. Even after all this time apart, she still knew me like no-one else ever had. Instinctively she knew what I needed, what I wanted without me having to say a word... Looking back at all the doubts I'd had back at the academy before I was taken, I can't believe how stupid I was, I know now that she is and always has been, my other half...

I still didn't know if I could trust myself around her, but her question instantly brought our time together this morning to the forefront. I controlled myself then... barely, maybe I could do it again... maybe I'd learn to push those memories and feeling down so far that they'd never bother me again... maybe.

To answer her I had to turn my head to the side and yell as we hurtled down the old road that would eventually get us to the school. The loud thumping of the engine and the confines of the helmet also made conversing difficult.

"I don't know what you're talking about Rose..." I tried to feign ignorance, hoping she'd wait till later to continue with this but Rose is Rose... She knew I needed a distraction from what we were to find at the academy, so she pushed on...

"Oh yes you do." I couldn't help but smile a little at her tone...

"We were alone..." I said with a slight shrug of my shoulders.

"We've been alone before Dimitri and you've never been like _that_, what's wrong?" Having someone know you like an open book can be a damn good thing... most of the time. Other times – like this, not so good.

"Nothing's wrong Rose, I just..." I couldn't do this while riding at breakneck speeds. "Can we talk about this later please?"

She didn't answer but her grip tightened for a second, letting me know that she would drop it... for now. Yeah, having someone know me like this can be a good thing, sometimes.

We had only been on the road for about ten minutes before I saw that the forest around us was starting to get thicker.

"Rose."

"What?"

"The trees..." I said indicating to what was ahead of us. Of course she knew what I meant...

"I don't know how much warning I'll get going at this speed." She yelled back to me.

"I know..." At least now she was on alert. The chill that crept over me as we drove further along the darkened road was partly because I knew that even though the sun was out, we were in as much danger as if it was the middle of the night. The other part was simply because here, under the cover of the trees... it was cold, and lifeless... maybe because it was. Even though strigoi, as a rule, unless through desperation didn't hunt animals, the life that would normally inhabited these woods had long vacated their homes for safer territory.

I knew that we were only a matter of minutes away from the academy so I leant forward and pushed the bike faster. I needed to know how my sister was, but the faster we rode, the faster we would be out of these God forsaken woods.

"Dimitri!" Rose's grip around my torso tightened as she yelled. I knew what was going on and I quickly glanced to my sides to see where they were coming from. They came running from both sides and ended up standing shoulder to shoulder across the span of the gravel road ahead of us.

_Shit! Do I try to go through them and run the risk of crashing or stop now and hopefully be ready to fight unknown numbers of strigoi? Shit!_

"How many? Do we go through or stop and fight?" She'd know what I meant. During some of our talks she'd told me that she could get a rough feel for the number of strigoi around with the severity of her nausea.

"_STOP_!"

Not a moment of hesitation on my part... I pulled against the handbrake as hard as I could without flipping us; the strigoi could see what we were going to do and started running towards us. I had my doubts that we'd stop before they reached us though.

Rose was obviously thinking the same thing; I felt her unclipping the guard that held my stake securely in its holster, it was now more at my front as we rode. She knew that we'd need every second available to us and that that small action would give me the second that I would need to defend myself. She then did the same to the stake that was strapped to my thigh.

Her arms left my body for an instant and I knew that she would soon have her two stakes at the ready and sure enough, I saw the glint of the silver in front of me as she put her hands back around my body.

"Hang on Rose!" I yelled. The gravel on the road was loose and slippery and had been built up to make the road higher than the ground on either side. I could feel the back of the bike start to fishtail but before anything could come of it, all hell broke loose...

"_DIMITR_..." Her scream was cut off and I was suddenly slammed from the side. I was so fixated on what was in front of me while also trying to stop the bike; I'd forgotten to watch my sides...

One second my eyes were open and watching five strigoi run towards me, the next... my body was crashed into the ground, rocks tearing at my clothing. I'd never congratulated myself before on any forethought I'd had, but there was a first for everything. Before leaving the house, I'd put on my riding leathers (earning a smile and wiggling eyebrows from Rose) and grabbed Viktoria's old ones for Rose to wear. They were a little big for her because Viktoria was taller, but now all I could hope for was that they'd help protect her from too much damage.

The impact was hard and knocked the wind out of me. My head hit hard too but the helmet took the brunt of that, the thing that hurt the most was when the bike fell onto my leg.

I didn't know where to look first, the strigoi or Rose... I took a quick glance to my right as I reached for one of the stakes but couldn't see her; I didn't have full vision with this bloody helmet either. So many things went through my mind in those few seconds that I skidded along the ground.

When I stopped sliding, I pushed the bike off me with my free leg just in time to roll away from the attacking strigoi; his punch to the ground would have been fatal if I hadn't. My eyes locked with the evil red that was all too familiar... _this, _I knew. I also felt the familiar switch being flicked in my head, the guardian switch that had been turned off for way too long.

I was aware of the sounds of fighting behind me, some part of me knew it was Rose but my sights were set on the creature in front of me. He may not have been one of my captors but he was about to pay their due.

He crouched into the normal attack stance so common amongst them, bent at the knees and waist, arms bent and out to their sides, fingers clenching and unclenching in anticipation... Lips pulled tight to reveal long, sharp canines, a hiss that could scare the wildest of predatory animals... Yeah, _this _I knew...

"Ready to die Dhampir?" he hissed.

"Not today... You?"

He sprung forward, all claws and teeth; obviously this one was young and untrained. That move was far too clumsy.

*RPOV*

As the tyres of the bike started to lose their grip, I felt the nausea roll in my stomach. I yelled out to Dimitri but we were slammed before I could get his name out. The strigoi hit me full on; ripping me off the back of the bike, but because of my grip around Dimitri's body, it ended up landing on the road first and taking the brunt of crash with me on top of him.

My stakes were still in my iron grip. I had only just started my training with them when Dimitri was taken, but Alberta and the others had trained me well after that. They were the only thing that stood between life and death out here and they'd only leave my hands once my last breath had been taken.

It was only a few seconds that we skidded along the ground, but a lot happened in those seconds. Without conscious thought, I looked to my left and saw Dimitri and the bike. I could see it was on top of him but there was nothing I could do to help and I knew that he'd be able to get out from underneath it.

As our skidding bodies slowed my fighting instinct kicked in. I started jabbing the stakes behind me, into the strigoi. His screams were somewhat muffled by my helmet... _Helmet! _I thought... In quick succession, I lifted my helmeted head and smashed it over and over at the body underneath me. Between that and the injuries from my stakes, the strigoi screamed louder and flailed erratically.

Once its grip on me released enough, I pushed myself away from him and rolled onto my hands and knees. I silently thanked Dimitri for giving me these leathers... Remembering the vision of him in black leather was... more than a little distracting, so I quickly shut that away for another time. As soon as I was up, so was the strigoi.

No speaking, no introductions... he leapt at me, but I was ready. The nausea was still there in a vengeance, stronger than what I normally felt for only five strigoi, so I knew there were more around us. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say there were probably another ten or fifteen close by. If Dimitri and I had any chance of getting to the academy alive, we had to eliminate the five here before the others could get in on the action.

The 'dance of death' that I'd danced so many times before was quick. This one hadn't been around for too long, but long enough. Another joined in and grabbed my hair, pulling me off my feet and flinging me through the air. I twisted my body and landed like a cat... on all fours! Both of my adversaries advanced quickly and even though my mind was it's in its normal 'blank fighting' mode, I quickly assessed my easier target of the two.

After showing above normal adaptability with the stake in my training, Alberta called in someone who she knew could take me to the next level. She said that even though all guardians wielded stakes, a few would show more ability than others, I was one of the few apparently. What shocked me more than anything else was who she'd brought in to train me... Janine 'Mother of the Year' Hathaway.

After what happened in Spokane, we'd come to some sort of understanding and for a microsecond in time and with a little push from Dimitri, I actually thought that we could have a somewhat real mother/daughter relationship. That was until Dimitri got taken and she treated me like a petulant child... after biting my tongue and biding my time, I learned what I needed to learn from her, then I told her to leave and never come back. Her duel stake training was the only thing of value that I've ever got from her... other than my life of course.

I waited till the last second and then leapt towards my enemies, kicking, ducking, swiping and cutting... I'd grown up, I'd improved from the 'battle virgin' teenager that I was "pre abduction", now I was fast, I was skilled and I was lethal. It wasn't long before the lesser of the two evils in front of me was eliminated and through the fight, we'd made our way back to the road. From my peripheral vision I could see Dimitri also had two strigoi, one lay dead at his feet.

I swung my right arm out, swiping one stake across my opponent's chest. It hissed in pain but swung down with a fist into my shoulder. Pain... _Shit! _The mongrel just dislocated my arm. I dropped the stake in that hand; the strigoi probably thought he'd had me beat, but I was trained to ignore pain and keep going.

I kept spinning with the momentum of my previous movement and brought my left hand up around behind me and in an upward movement. I looked over my left shoulder as I turned to see that I'd missed his heart, but not by much... With all my strength I twisted my weapon and pushed it further in, tearing the beating, yet lifeless organ that was it's only off switch available to me. I quickly pulled my stake out and moved aside as it's now completely dead body fell forward.

A quick glance to Dimitri and I saw he was now down to one, but getting tired. He still wasn't up to full strength, but now I was injured... I knew what had to be done so I got up and ran to the nearest tree. Lining my arm up across my body, I took a deep breath and slammed my shoulder into the tree trunk. Stars flickered behind my closed eyelids as pain reverberated through my body, but I couldn't let this overcome me.

As Dimitri's face flashed through my mind, I shook my head and gently turned my now throbbing shoulder. _Suck it up Hathaway! _I yelled at myself. I took a deep breath and ran for my stake that lay only a few feet away. I never stopped running as the cool metal touched my hand.

Seeing me running towards them distracted Dimitri's opponent for the second that he needed to finish him off... I watched as the light left its cold dead eyes, but it wasn't over yet... the nausea was increasing, the others were a lot closer than I liked.

*DPOV*

I saw the strigoi's eyes dart over my shoulder and that's all I needed. I pushed both stakes into its chest and growled in pleasure as its life force disappeared from its eyes. I heard running behind me and then an instant later, I heard her voice.

"_Dimitri! There's more..." _I spun my head around and saw Rose running towards me, covered in blood with bruises already forming. One shoulder was lower than the other and I could see the pain in her eyes...

"Where? How many?"

"Lots..." I nodded quickly in understanding and looked at the bike that lay between us. We got to it at the same time and I bent down to pick it up.

"How bad is your shoulder?" I asked her.

"Dislocated, but I put it back in." I couldn't help the grin of pride that pulled at my mouth. She was remarkable...

I threw my leg over the bike and pumped the kick-start peddle. Two pumps and she roared to life.

"We don't have time..." I heard Rose say from beside me.

I looked up to her and saw her looking away from me. Following her line of sight I saw what she was looking at, my stomach dropped. There had to be at least ten strigoi... I knew we wouldn't make it on the bike, we had no choice but to try and fight, but it had been a long time since I was at full strength and now Rose was injured and we both knew there would be no back up.

I turned the key to the off position and the bike stopped underneath me. I pushed the stand down and watched Rose take a step forward, cracking her neck as she moved. Her hands came up and she stood statue still as she waited for the fight. I pushed myself off the bike and stood beside the woman I loved as I evaluated the undead before us.

"Do you know any of them?" Rose asked. I did a quick scan and stopped when my eyes fell to one that was familiar.

"Yes..."

I saw Rose glance at me quickly from the corner of my eye.

"The blonde woman in the middle. Her name is Galina, she was once a teacher of mine at St Basil's, she was lost in battle a few years ago, at least now I know what happened to her..."

"How good is she?"

"Alberta..." I knew that she'd know what I meant by giving that name. Galina and Alberta's fighting style was almost identical. It wasn't until I'd worked with Alberta for a while that I'd realised how much she reminded me of Galina. I'd even told her this once we became friends and was shocked to learn that they were in fact cousins, Galina's father and Alberta's mother were siblings; Galina being the result of a teenage pregnancy at St Basil's and was left there to be raised by the academy. The two women had grown up and trained there together before Alberta was sent to the US after graduation. They'd lost contact over the years through distance and the general life of being a guardian and she hadn't heard Galina had been lost in battle.

"Well crap! The day just keeps getting better and better..."

Before I could reply, two strigoi walked forward, obviously not in any hurry. One had Rose in its sights, the other one was headed straight for me.

"Looks like it's going to be a tag team tactics, how's that arm again?" I asked her. Looking at her now, you'd never know she'd been injured, she knew how to put pain out of her mind until later...

"Just peachy... Watch and learn Comrade..." She flashed me a quick smile before I saw her eyes drift out of focus for a second. I'd seen this look before... She was tapping into the bond between her and Lissa but I didn't know why. "Comrade?"

"Yeah..."

"I've learnt a few new skills since you've seen me last... When you see them going nuts, fighting with themselves...that will be your window of opportunity. Go do your thing, but do it fast because we won't have long... and I'll be in a lot of pain..."

"What...?"

"Don't ask." She cut me off. "...You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it. Just trust me... We need to get closer to the main group."

I nodded in reply, not really sure what to expect, but when a guardian asked you for their trust, you gave it, no questions asked... (out loud anyway). Rose started walking forward and I followed her lead, within seconds, we were running... they were running...

The first mistake they made was underestimating Rose. Her opponent was young; they obviously thought she wouldn't be an issue, easily dispatched. Rose was about to teach them a lesson. We ran side by side and I could hear the growl emanating from her. I glanced over to her and was shocked by what I saw. Her face was...hard, her eyes...wild. I'd never seen her like that before, but she asked me to trust her.

The strigoi covered more distance than we did and we came together hard... Rose's attacker didn't know what hit her. Rose jumped into the air, flipped herself over and in one fluid movement she pushed a stake into the strigoi's heart before she even saw it coming. She was dead before Rose's feet hit the ground. My opponent was a little more experienced, it took me a few more seconds to gain the upper hand.

It seems these two were sent to gauge our abilities and as we ran to the other waiting strigoi, four more broke from their line and ran towards us. Okay... two each.

We were now closer to the group than I was comfortable with, but this is what Rose wanted. The two that zeroed in on me where a lot more adept to fighting than my last opponent. I was glad for all of those 'dual stake' fighting lessons that Alberta put me through when I first took up my position at St Vladimir's. I could hear Rose fighting behind me and it wasn't long before I heard one of her opponents scream. It was a scream that we all soon came to recognise, their last scream. One was dead... And with that thought, the stake in my right hand finally found its mark on the strigoi in front of me.

Some part of my brain heard someone yell, and I'm pretty sure the word was 'stop'... I knew it wasn't Rose, I could still hear her fighting but as I dropped for a low roundhouse kick, my opponent ran. I stood there dazed, my breathing hard. I couldn't work out what was going on. The strigoi I was fighting was now standing a good thirty feet away from me, bent down in his attack stance.

"Rose?" I called out while not taking my eyes off the evil in front of me.

"I'm here... What are...?"

"Dimitri..." My eyes quickly snapped to my left towards a voice I hadn't heard in years. I glanced back to my opponent to find him gone so I stood up and glanced to where I knew Rose was and saw her looking towards Galina. "I heard you'd been 'rescued'. I was thinking what a shame it was that the others had taken so long to awaken you; that we'd lost you. But... here you are." Her words...her tone...her, insinuation was unmistakable. I'd been around strigoi long enough to hear their innuendos.

"Leave... him... alone..." Rose's voice took me by surprise. I'd never heard her voice sound so... terrifying before. I was also surprised to see her face match that voice.

"Ooo, a little territorial aren't we..." Galina goaded. "But you see Missy... _he's ours _and it's about time we got him back. Now I'll have the pleasure of him being mine."

I thought Rose's face was bad before... holy shit! I could swear her eyes darkened. I could see her hands move and found her taking a ring off one of her fingers.

"Rose...?" I whispered. I couldn't understand what she was doing. It was like she hadn't heard me. Once the ring was off, she slipped it into one of her pants pockets and then her eyes squinted as though she was in pain. I was about to go to her when I heard the strigoi screaming. What I saw didn't make any sense. They were all running around, arms flailing around their heads like they were fighting off a swarm of bees.

"GO!" Rose groaned out loud. I looked at her to see her clutching at her head... "Go... do it!" This is what she told me about before. I looked away from her and took off running. She told me I wouldn't have a lot of time, so I went for the biggest opponent first. Galina.

She was swatting the air around her, unaware of my approach and as I got to her, she turned her back to me. I quickly took advantage of the quick kill she offered herself up as. Hearing her scream, the others turned towards me while fighting off their invisible attackers. A couple walked towards me as though they wanted a piece of me, so I ran for them. I don't know what Rose was doing to them, but these were some of the easiest strigoi kills I'd ever made.

Five down in a minute or two... I was about to go for the next one when the three that were left suddenly stopped their movements and stood up to their full heights. Blood was pumping in my ears as I quickly assessed them. Two of them branched off to go around either side of me, the biggest one stayed in front. I bent my neck to the side, cracking the bones in preparation of the fight I was about to engage in. I'd done this before... This was my captor's one big mistake... by making all of us fight with each other or with them, they thought it was 'entertainment' but they were actually teaching me how to fight multiple opponents.

All three came at me at once, but I was ready. I quickly turned to my right to take on the one I perceived to be the weakest of the three. The fight was hard and I took a lot of hard hits, but then a lucky break... I saw the strigoi's momentary lapse in concentration and it was all I needed. I pushed my stake up hard, finding its mark, but I had to leave it in its chest while I fought the other two. If I'd taken it out too soon, the mongrel wouldn't have died.

Being one stake down and tired as hell wasn't a good combination. I struck my stake out to swipe it across the strigoi's neck, but he dodged my attack. I kept spinning with the momentum and went to drop down so that I could pick up the other stake, but as I spun, I felt a hard jab to my kidneys. Pain shot up my back and stars prickled behind my closed eyes. A hard punch to my jaw had me on my back; I somehow opened my eyes to see two sets of cold, hungry and angry red eyes glaring back at me. My vision was still clouded in the white haze of pain, but it's hard not to miss those eyes.

In that instant I realised that I hadn't heard Rose for a while... But before I could do anything about it, the strigoi above me leapt up from their crouched positions grabbing at their backs and hissed in pain. As my vision quickly cleared I saw a group of guardians running towards me, guns drawn in one hand, a stake in the other. With the strigoi otherwise occupied, I turned my body onto my stomach where I layed... _Where was she?_

"ROSE!" I yelled. I heaved myself up to my hands and knees on the gravel road, wincing at the pain that kept shooting up my back. "Rose... answer me!" My eyes soon fell across a familiar boot that was sticking out behind the body of a felled strigoi. I pushed myself up to my feet and ran as best I could. I gasped at what I saw when my eyes fell upon her face...

Her beautiful deep rich hue of her skin was now gone. She was pale, ashen... blood slowly coming from her nose, but what scared me the most was her vacant eyes...

"Rose..." I whispered as I dropped down beside her and felt her neck for a pulse... It was there, slow and weak, but it was there... "Baby, open your eyes... Don't leave me. I've just got you back, don't leave me..." I swallowed hard and scooped her limp body up into my arms before running back to the other guardians who had now dispatched the ones I'd been fighting.

"St Basil's?" I asked them quickly. One guardian nodded. "Она не пострадал, нам нужно чтобы вернуться." (_She's hurt, we need to return._)

"Таким образом" (_This way._)

He and three other took me to where their cars were and we quickly piled in.

"Belikov?" He asked in his heavy accent. I nodded in reply. "We were sent out when you didn't arrive. After the attack, we knew they'd hang around for a while and you'd probably meet up with them. How did you two bring all those strigoi down by yourselves?"

Without answering him, I glanced down at the woman in my arms... she looked so pale.

"It was her..." I said under my breath.


	19. Chapter 18

**Yeah I know... It's been 3 weeks. I'm slack! :-) Okay, here 'tis. **

**BTW, for those reading my new story 'Fight Back' and have asked if Dimitri is in this story, the answer is yes... He will be coming into it soon, but a few things have to be put in place first. Remember, even though this story is all human, it is also very much Alternate Universe too... A lot that will happen in this story will mirror what takes place in the books. Some people may be a little different (You'll see), but generally, the characters will be as close to cannon as possible... (considering I'm deleting the vampire parts)... LOL. **

**Anyway, On with the show!**

**Sandy**

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**Chapter 18**

As we drove to my old academy, I held Rose in my arms as I whispered in her ear.

"You're so strong Roza, don't give up, keep breathing baby. I didn't fight all that time for you to just leave me now." I said anything I could think of, I even said things that I thought would piss her off and make her wake up and fight with me. Without moving my mouth away from her face, I looked out the corner of my eye and saw the once familiar gates drawing closer. Even though I'd been speaking to Rose the whole way, I heard when they radioed ahead to let them know that there was a medical emergency and they wouldn't be stopping. From growing up here, I knew where the infirmary was and just as we drove into the parking lot, I started sliding us to the door so that I could get her there quicker. With one last shove, the door opened and I leapt out without missing a step. A young nurse was standing just outside the door, obviously waiting for us and opened the door.

"Follow me Dimitri." I recognised Dr Baranski from when I was here; he must be as old as the hills now... he was ancient before... He led me into one of the exam rooms and I hadn't even put her on the bed before he and the nurses took over. "Stand back..." he said abruptly.

"Belikov?" I heard my name called from behind me. "Is that really you?" It took a few seconds before I was able to tear my eyes away from Rose.

"Petrovskii?" I said shocked. Stas Petrovskii was one of my closest friends while I was here and it shocked me to see him here. I thought he had a placement with one of the more prominent royal families here in Russia. "I thought you..." I heard something drop to the floor behind me before I could get anything else out; I quickly spun around to see arms and legs flying as well as doctors and nurses. Yelling and screaming reverberated off the walls; English, Russian... Romanian. Then I realised that Roses' legs were amongst those moving and I could tell she was the one moving them.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" She screeched. Instantly I rushed forward, she wouldn't know what was going on. The last she knew, we were fighting for our lives.

"ROSE!" I yelled...

"HOLD HER DOWN!" Yelled the doctor...

"I _can't_!" yelled one of the nurses just before she fell to the floor unconscious from a punch from Rose.

"STAS! Help me hold her." I yelled. I threw myself over the top half of her body trying to get a grip of her arms while also trying not to get hit. Her body bucked and thrashed underneath me. Stas let out a string of curses as he tried to get a grip on her legs only to have Rose's knee connect with his cheek.

"Roza... Rose. Calm down baby, calm down." I shouted but the instant she opened her eyes, I knew why she was still fighting. Her eyes were dark, so dark... Christian had told me back at the mansion in the US that Rose took the darkness from Lissa that was created when she used spirit and that over time Rose had worked out how to use that darkness to help her fight. It made her stronger, deadlier... I'd seen her in the fight on the road, and I'd seen the results of her spirit induced fury. He also told me how her eyes would darken when she took it from Lissa and if I was ever around her when it happened, that I would know the difference and would have to talk her out of it. I now knew what he meant.

"Come on Roza, this isn't you. Listen to my voice, calm down. Hear me maya krasaveetsa. Hear me." It didn't take long after that and soon as I saw the change in her eyes, I felt her body slow down and relax. "That's it... breathe Roza. Come back to me." Her breathing was still laboured but she relaxed in my grip.

"Dimitri..." she whispered.

"I'm here baby. Are you okay?" I asked stupidly. I could see by the blood still gushing from a deep gash in her head she wasn't okay, but that wasn't what I was asking about. She slowly closed her eyes as she nodded her head. I leant forward and placed a kiss on the only bloodless spot on her face.

"We made it?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, we did. The academy sent out guardians when we didn't arrive on time. They made it just in time."

"Dimitri..." The doctor said pulling me out of the little bubble Rose and I had slipped into. I nodded and stood up from the bed but before I could move away, Rose's hand shot out and gripped my arm in a vice-like grip.

"Don't..." she said. I reached down and pulled her fingers off my arm and then held her much smaller hand in mine. She was an enigma – so fierce and lethal in battle, yet here she is reaching out to me for strength and comfort. After everything we'd been through lately, I didn't want to be separated from her anymore than she wanted to be from me.

"I'm not going anywhere Love." I looked up to Stas who was trying not to look like he was trying to figure out our relationship. Few people from St Vladimir's knew of our relationship, so of course no-one here knew. Relationships such as ours were not something that was welcomed amongst our kind.

"What are you doing back in Russia Dimitri? Last I heard you were at St Vladimir's."

"Yes, I was. It's a long story, one best discussed at another time." I looked back to Rose to see her looking at my old friend. "Roza, this is Guardian Stanislav Petrovskii. We trained here together." Her eyes glanced at me before returning to Stas.

"It's good to meet you Guardian Petrovskii." She said slightly weaker than I liked. "I'm Rose Hathaway." Stas's eyes widened slightly in recognition before looking back to me, I smiled internally at the pride I felt knowing that her reputation proceeded her. I always knew she'd be a kickass guardian, it felt good to know I had a little to do with that.

"_The _Rose Hathaway? Well, it is an honour to meet you guardian Hathaway, though a shame it is not under better conditions. Call me Stas, everyone else does." I knew he was dying to know about Rose and me, but I also knew he would never just come out and ask me. "I am sorry Dimka, I cannot stay, I just saw you running in here and thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. But I would like to catch up later... if you are going to be here for a while?"

"Yes, we are." I said. "Stas, my sister?"

He didn't have to answer, Dr Baranski answered for him as he stitched Rose's head wound.

"She is fine Dimitri; she is in one of the other rooms. You can go see her while I tend to Guardian Hathaway if you would like." I looked at Rose's pale face and shook my head. If anything was wrong with Viktoria they would have said so, my place was with Rose now.

"You can go Dimitri, I'm all good here." She said giving my hand a quick squeeze. "I'm an old hand at this remember. Go check on your sister."

"I will when you're finished here, we'll go see her together."

We sat silently while the doctor continued to stitch up the some of the more serious cuts on her arms and body. He cleaned other less serious cuts so that they wouldn't get infected. He asked her to change into one of the gowns before doing so but that only earned him the deathliest of glares... I couldn't help but smile at the memory of her back at St Vladimir's when they tried to do the same thing. She hated those gowns with a vengeance. He got her to sit up so that he could check her back and frowned when he saw the large bruised on her left side.

"I am fairly sure there is a rib or two broken here Guardian Hathaway." Dr Baranski informed us.

"Yeah, I know." She said back to him. I shook my head at her as she tried to pass this fact off like she had a broken fingernail other than broken ribs...

"We will need to get you strapped up, but first, do you have any problem with your breathing?"

"No, it's just a simple break." _Simple... Yeah..._

Almost an hour later, she was finally strapped up. They wanted her to stay for at least a day to recover a bit, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. With badly covered up winces, Rose walked with me to the room where Viktoria was. My sister had changed a lot since the last time I'd seen her, she was much taller now and had the body of fighter. I didn't know if I was proud or not to see that she'd decided to follow me instead of having babies so young. With the recent happenings in my life and my own disillusionment with what I always thought was my destiny, I wasn't so sure that I wanted this life for either one of us now. She was asleep so we decided to let her rest and come back later.

We walked outside to see if we could assist in any way and were met once again by Stas. The bruise on his cheekbone, courtesy of Rose, was darkening up fast.

"It is good to see you up on your feet Guardian Hathaway."

"Only the good die young Stas, besides it takes more than a small undead army to keep me down." I could tell by his expression that he didn't know if he should believe her statement or not.

"Oh really, an army hey... Tell me Miss America, what do you consider a small army?" I couldn't believe he'd go there...

"Um, I'm not exactly sure", she said with a shrug of her shoulder, "...fifteen to twenty maybe, somewhere around there wouldn't you say Dimitri?" I saw him look up at the cut on her head and probably thought she was slightly delusional from being hit too hard but when he looked at me with a small smile, he saw that I didn't share his humorous scepticism, his smile faulted. When he glanced back at Rose his expression now held a little awe with a healthy dash of respect.

"Is there anything we can help with Stas?" I asked.

"Ah... I am not sure." He stumbled, "...I will take you to see Guardian Mathews. He is the acting Captain at the moment. Guardian Peters is no longer with us." We both knew what he meant by that. We followed him into the guardian building and he introduced us both. Guardian Mathews was happy to have our help and sent us out to help with the clean up. Rose couldn't do too much with her ribs, but I knew better than to try and stop her. Stas on the other hand learnt the hard way to keep his thoughts to himself. He always was a little slow when it came to the ladies...

"Dimitri," Stas called out to me after about twenty minutes, "...as much as I appreciate your help, go and visit your sister. There will be plenty to do later."

"Thank you Stas, I think I will." The whole time I was out here, all I wanted to do was to go see Viktoria, but I felt as though I needed to prove myself. I didn't know if anyone here knew about the last year of my life, if they did, they didn't say anything. "Come on Rose, I'd like you to meet my little sister." I really wanted for her to sit down, she was looking paler by the minute and I knew the physical work was making her side hurt more and more but if I'd said that to her, she'd stay here just to prove a point.

We walked to the medical building at Rose's speed, as much as I wanted to see my sister, I could see that Rose was struggling a bit. It didn't take long before we reached the medical building and I couldn't help but smile as Rose rolled her eyes at having to come back here so soon after leaving.

"At least this time you're only visiting Roza."

"Yeah well, it's not totally unheard of thank you very much."

Once we reached Viktoria's room I could see that Rose was in desperate need for rest. We entered silently and saw that she looked as though she was still sleeping. I told Rose to sit in the chair by Viktoria's bed; she was going to refuse until I gave my own 'don't screw with me' glare... I sat on the bed and held my sisters hand and as soon as I did, her eyes opened.

"Dimitri?" she asked confused.

"It's me sister. What have gone and done to yourself now?"

"Oh you know... a punch here, a kick there... You're really here? They said that you were..."

"Yeah, I'm really here." I interrupted. "Mama should be... here soon." I looked over to Rose as I said this, remembering the note I left for my mother and sisters, they could possibly be on their way... She gave a quick nod in understanding and then pushed out of the chair.

"I'll be right back Dimitri." I nodded back to her in thanks hoping that nothing would happen to my family. I hated having to see her walk away, knowing she needed to rest, but if I left now it would only alert Viktoria.

"Who was that?" Viktoria asked me.

"That was Roza." I was surprised to see her brow lift in question.

"_The _Roza... as in _your_ Roza?" I wasn't aware that she knew about all of this. Mama never could keep a secret.

"Yes, my Roza." I was anxious to know what was happening outside.

"What's wrong brother?"

"Probably nothing, Roza's just checking on something for me."

"But you didn't ask her anything." I couldn't help but smile at depth of our connection, Viktoria was right, I didn't have to use words for Roza to know what I wanted or needed, she just knew. She always did. "The academy told us you disappeared, that they didn't know where you were. Why didn't you get in touch with us Dimka? Let us know you were alright?"

_Hard question... _I thought to myself.

"It's a really long story Viktoria, one that I can't really get into right now. But I promise that I will tell you, just not right now okay."

"Alright." Just then Roza came back into the room.

"There's no answer at the house. Is there anyone I can call to go see if they've left or not?" I haven't been here for years; I'd have to ask Viktoria. So much for not wanting to worry her...

"Do you know the phone numbers of any neighbours at home?" I asked my sister.

"Yes, why?"

"I left a note telling mama where we went after we got the phone call from the academy about you getting hurt. I'm worried that she might come here." I could tell she was confused at my worry. "They hang around after an attack Viktoria, normally on the road to the academy in wait for any reinforcements that may come to help. We ran into a lot of them, but there could be more. I didn't think... I shouldn't have..."

Her eyes widened in realisation of what I was saying.

"Mama..." she whispered. She said nothing more but wrote down quite a few numbers to call; I had to do make them as a lot of them didn't speak English and Rose couldn't speak Russian. I was lucky to get our next door neighbour and I stayed on the line while she went to see if the car was still there. It wasn't... They were already gone. I thanked her for her assistance and said my goodbyes. Walking back into my sister's room, I glanced at Rose and shook my head. She knew what I meant.

"So...?" Viktoria asked me.

"They've already left. I don't know how long it's been since they did, but I'll give them twenty minutes, if they're not here by then, I'll go looking for them."

"No..." Both Rose and Viktoria said immediately.

"You will do no such thing Dimitri. You've already gone up against more than your fair share today and you're still not recovered from..." She stopped herself from saying anything more but continued on another path. "If you go out there, you won't come back. Don't put me through that again."

"Rose... it's my..."

"You promised." She said softly while her eyes bored into mine.

She had me... I vowed I wouldn't break another promise to her. But how could I sit here and not go look for my mother and sisters if they didn't turn up?

"Alright, I need to see Guardian Mathews, see if he can send someone out then." She gave a nod but when I stood up to leave, so did she. "No, stay here and rest, walking around won't do your ribs any good."

"I'm coming with you." It took me a few seconds to understand why she would be so adamant; she didn't trust me not to just go anyway while she was here. She knew me very well. I walked over to her and put my hands on either side of her face.

"I promise you, I won't go. After everything that has happened this last year... I promised you that I would never leave you again and I meant it." Her eyes darted left to right as she looked into my eyes, probably looking to see if they showed any lie.

"Promise?" Again she showed me her vulnerability.

"I promise Roza." She whispered her okay and closed her eyes. I pulled her to me and kissed her forehead before tilting her face up to mine and sealing my promise with a kiss. Even after the day that we'd had, she still tasted so good. "I love you."

"I love you." A few kisses later, we broke apart and I walked over to the door.

"I'll be back as soon as I find Guardian Mathews and get his reply. I promise."


	20. Chapter 19

Well, here's the next chapter... I hope you like it. Has everyone read Last Sacrifice yet? I have... and it was wonderful! If anyone comments, please don't give out any spoilers...  
I'd just like to say that Richelle Mead Rocks! And I'd like to thank her for creating such wonderful characters to play with... LOL!

Enjoy... And review!

Sandy

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**Chapter 19**

"I'll have to ask Headmaster Lazar." Mathews told me. "If it were up to me I would, but with everything going on here and the losses we've taken, he may not."

"You came out for us." I reminded him.

"Yeah I know, but the way Lazar saw it... you and Rose were backup." _A soft growl emanated from my chest... _"Dimitri, all I can do is try."

"Try hard." I said abruptly before storming out of the building. As I looked up, I saw Stas walking towards me.

"Hey. How's Rose?"

"Good." I really wasn't in the mood for a chat.

"Is something wrong?"

"After I got the call about Viktoria being hurt, I left a note telling my mother where I'd gone. I was so stupid... I know strigoi hang around the roads. Now my family is probably on their way, and I..."

"How long?" I knew what he was asking.

"Not sure really. I don't know when they left or even if they've left at all."

"Ring them again." He said pulling his cell phone out of his pants pocket. I thanked him and dialled my home's number. I stood in front of my friend and with each ring, my heart grew heavier...

"Hello?" I nearly wept as I heard my mother's sweet voice.

"Mama..."

"Dimka! I'm just about to leave." She said upset.

"No Mama... Stay there." She was yelling at me about being so stupid... "Mama, the road into the school is not safe. Roza and I barely made it."

"Are you alright son? Roza?"

"I'm fine mama, banged up but fine. Roza... she's got a couple of broken ribs and she's cut up pretty bad but she's stubborn. The strigoi, you know they wait around for backup. I promise I will ring you and let you know how things are."

"Viktoria?" She asked quietly. Some of the panic in her voice was gone, now she was just scared, scared for her baby.

"She's alright mama. She's got a couple of ribs broken too and her collarbone, bruises from head to toe but she's good. They expect her to be up and around in a day or two."

"Oh thank God! I was walking home with the groceries and as I walked past Mrs Pavlovski next door, she called out to me. She rambled on and on about her husband and kids and then told me that you'd rung looking for me, asking if our car was here."

"Yeah, where is it by the way?"

"Oh, Sonja got a call to come into work while we were out so she ran home to get dressed and took the car."

"How were you getting here then if Sonja has the car?"

"I rang Mark and Oksana; they should be here any second now. When will it be safe Dimitri?"

"I'm not sure mama. I'll have to find out more information about the attack on the school and what the local population is like here. I'll call you as soon as I know. They normally lock down for at least a week, plus they need our help here anyway, but as soon as it's possible, I'll let you know."

"Thank you son, can I speak to Viktoria?"

"I'm not at the clinic mama. I'll call you tonight from there so you can speak to her alright?"

We said our goodbyes and then I handed Stas his phone back. I can't describe the relief I felt knowing my family wasn't on their way. I went back in and told Mathews what had just happened and thanked him for the trouble he'd already gone to and then I went back to the clinic to see my two girls.

That night I rang my mother as promised and left when the waterworks started. We were on our way to our assigned quarters when one of the resident guardians asked us to follow him, apparently the headmaster wished to see us.

"Guardian Hathaway, Belikov, have a seat." He gestured to the chairs in front of his desk as I closed the door to his office. "My name is Eugene Lazar and I have a few questions I'd like answered if you wouldn't mind." Headmaster Lazar was an older Moroi with a loud deep voice. Royal of course, but not all that high up the food chain. I was surprised to hear his American accent too.

"Of course, anything you need." I said. Rose gave me an odd look...

"First of all, I'd like to thank you for your help today but I was wondering if you could clear something up for me." When we didn't answer he continued. "I was talking to the guardian council about getting some more guardians in to help and told them that you both had just turned up. They were... confused when I told them that you were here Dimitri, something about you being missing."

_Ah... _"Yes, I was missing, for the last year in fact. I was taken by strigoi just over 13 months ago." I planned on saying more but the words stopped as images flooded into my head.

"I'm sure you heard about the recent offensive that was taken by the court?" Rose continued.

"Yes, last month."

"That's right. I was one of the team leaders in that raid. The pack of strigoi had taken a number of prisoners both human and dhampir, Dimitri was one of the prisoners. He was rescued but after his experiences, it was thought it would be beneficial for him to take some time off so that he could recover before returning to duty." She was careful with what she said, but told everything that needed to be said.

Lazar had wanted more information but Rose told him there was too much to it to get into right now. He asked that we speak to him more tomorrow, I think he wanted to be sure I wasn't about to suddenly whip out brown contact lenses to reveal glowing red eyes or something.

"Another quick thing, ah... a couple of guardians have implied..."

"We're together." I quickly said. "We're actually engaged."

He was quick to cover the shock on his face but his eyes nearly bugged out of his head and I'm pretty sure his mouth had gone dry.

"That won't be a problem will it Headmaster?" Rose said calmly. No-one would have heard the threat in her voice, but I did. She was almost willing him to say something... and when he did, I actually feared for his life.

"Well, yes... it is actually guardian Hathaway." That's all he got out.

"I don't give a flying fuck what you think _Eugene_..." she hissed as she stood up and leant over the desk at him. Her voice was like ice but her eyes raged like volcanoes. "We're engaged to be married and I won't let you or anyone else make what we share a dirty thing."

I stood up to pull her away but she pulled her arm out of my grip while not stopping her rant.

"We put our lives on the line for you day after day after day. We give up everything for you, family, friends, children... our very lives but you don't care, you think it's your right to have us die in your place. You have no idea what this wonderful man has been through and I will not let you make him feel unworthy of a happy life."

"Roza... enough." Every word she said was true, but every word she said was doing something to my body that was not appropriate in front of others. I had to get her to stop... before I couldn't.

"We are engaged," she continued, "...we will _act_ like any other engaged couple and you will say nothing! You will smile and you will be happy for us. If not, then you can clean up the bodies yourself... GOT IT!"

Lazar sat in his chair stunned into silence. I was a little take back myself, but I only just managed to keep the smile off my face as I pulled Rose away from the desk. She was a spitfire and she was tough! And she was as sexy as hell. If she said anymore, I think I'd give Lazar a heart attack by taking Roza on his desk right now...

"Roza... Stand down." I said with more force, I could see she heard me but she had more to say...

"We will be here to help you in any way we can, but we will not be looked down upon, do you understand me?"

"Yes, certainly." Lazar mumbled. With that, Rose took my hand and we walked out of the office and made our way back to the guardian building.

"I can't believe that royal prick..." Roza mumbled. She was fuming, her hand clenched mine tight and it was painful. That pain was what I was concentrating on right now. Her anger, her defence of us had me more worked up than was publicly polite. "I want to smash him, rip him to shreds..." she growled as she opened the door to the room I'd been assigned. She didn't get to say anything else. As soon as I followed her inside, I slammed the door and pulled her back to me. I gripped her face in my hands and pressed my lips to hers hard.

I turned us around and pushed her against the now closed door where I quickly started to relieve her of her clothes. Blood pumped through my veins as I ravaged her body.

"Oh..." she gasped when I moved to her neck. "Dimit..."

"Shh... Don't speak." I growled. I grabbed the side of her panties and pulled hard, ripping them from her body. Her deep groan made me impossibly harder than I already was. I reached down her leg and lifted it up around my waist, pushing my hips into hers. I wanted her to see what she does to me. "You're so hot when you're mad..." In my hungry exploration of her body, I found her as excited as I was.

I couldn't wait anymore; I reached between us and unzipped my jeans. It had often been said that there wasn't much between the emotion of rage and lust, and between us... we had both overflowing. We both let out loud moans as we came together, her fingernails digging in deep. I covered her mouth with my free hand and looked deep into her eyes.

"Shh... I said quiet." I have always seen Roza as my equal, even at the academy, but I had also recently found out that she loved me taking control in certain situations. Our eyes never broke contact, other than when I pushed deep hitting places that made it impossible to keep her eyes focused. "Hang on tight Roza." I said tapping her legs.

She linked her ankles behind me and I went to work... Sensory overload can be a wondrous thing if done correctly. I knew she close, as was I... I covered her mouth with mine and wrapped my tongue around hers. One hand mercilessly stimulated her breasts while the other stimulated elsewhere. She groaned loudly into my mouth. She wouldn't last long...

"Now baby, let go..." I said deeply. Sensory overload wasn't only happening to Roza... Her sounds, her feel, her smell... everything about her flooded my senses and I released into her as I pulled the soft skin of her shoulder into my mouth and sucked hard.

"Oh God..." she panted against my ear as our breathing started to level out. "That was..."

I couldn't help by snicker at her smiling voice. "That was what my love?"

"Unexpected... un-friggin-real... explosive... Take your pick..." Then I remembered... I pulled away slightly to looking into her eyes. "What?"

"Your ribs... I'm so sorry, I forgot. Did I hurt you?"

"My ribs were the last thing on my mind in case you didn't notice Dimitri. And plus, I've been in battles with more injuries than just a couple of cracked ribs. This..." she gestured between us where we were still joined with a devilish grin, "...was _all_ I could feel."

Her grin was contagious. "You're one wicked woman Roza."

"You have no idea Dimitri, but I'm sure you'll soon find out. I plan on showing you a whole other side to me my love." Her eyes widened as she felt how her words reactivated my body... "Again?"

"I plan to get to know this 'other side' quite well Roza, starting right now."

The next morning, we walked out of our now shared accommodations with shit eating smiles and tired, aching bodies. There may be a bucket load of love between us, but we're two strong and dominant people... When we come together, it can get... physical, and we came together a lot last night.

"We'll clean that up later." Rose said motioning to the room as she shut the door. "Do you think anyone heard?"

That question was soon answered.

"Hey Stas." I greeted as he was coming in from the night shift. "How was it last night, any problems?"

"Not really. Oh there was something early on in the night, sent the place into a near lock down. Yeah, there was all this yelling and screaming and crashing... we thought we were under attack again, but then we realised it was coming from your room..."

I nearly choked on my own tongue... I glanced beside me to see Rose's face flush red but his comment didn't wipe the smile off her face. All I could hear was Stas killing himself laughing.

"Funny Stas."

"Do you need me to... call the doc? Maybe a... clean up crew..." he said while trying to catch his breath.

"Don't worry about the doc Stas," Rose said evenly, "only Dimitri can sooth my aches, but a demolition crew may be warranted... new quarters maybe."

Stas' face was priceless. He stared at Rose with more awe than when he found out who she was... then he looked at me and burst out laughing again.

"Oh shit..." he gasped as he held his stomach. "That was... oh my God..."

"You had to go there didn't you?" I mumbled to Rose.

"Oh my God... She needs to stay here Dimka. Can we keep her?" This was something we'd say to each other whenever someone with a sense of humour came to the academy so I knew he was only joking but I couldn't help become a little defensive.

"I'm the only one that gets to keep Roza, got it." I may have been smiling, but all three of us heard the implication.

"Now, now children no fighting, there's enough of this awesomeness to go around. Dimitri, you staked your claim convincingly enough last night, calm your feathers."

"You've got your hands full with her don't you my friend."

"You have no idea Stas."

"Oh before I forget, Guardian Mathews wants to see you both as soon as you finish breakfast. He understands you'll probably need nourishment beforehand."

"Thank you Stas." I knew if we didn't get out of here soon, he'd be throwing these innuendos out all day. We said our goodbyes and walked out to the sounds of laughter behind us.

"Well, I guess we'll be the talk of the town in more ways than one today hey..." Rose said casually.

"I guess we will." I said looking down at her. "I reiterate my last opinion of you."

"What's that?"

"You're one wicked woman Roza."


	21. Chapter 20

**A/N: **Hi everyone, sorry for taking so, so long to update this chapter. A couple of reasons... 1, hubby has been on holidays since before Christmas and is a little snooty about the time I spend writing, apparently he wants to do things on his holidays! Pft! and 2, for some reason, I had a bit of trouble writing it... the words just didn't want to come out. But finally it's here! :-)  
Hopefully the next chapter will come a little easier.  
Thanks for sticking with me!

**Sandy**

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**Chapter 20 **

Dimitri and I sat opposite Guardian Mathews after we'd filled up on breakfast. I was so full after breakfast, I'd really pigged out. There were a lot of different foods here, but I was more than elated to find one familiar item on the menu... donuts! Dimitri almost laughed out loud at my squeal of delight when I saw them and as full as I was... just remembering their taste had my mouth watering once again... Just then, Guardian Mathews voice pulled me back to the here and now.

"Look, I know that you probably realise that Headmaster Lazar told me a bit about what you've been through lately Dimitri. I'm pretty sure that anything I could imagine would only pale in the reality of it all..." _Smart man, if you only knew. _"I'm also not going to say I know how you feel, but you must understand why I have to ask if you're ready for this."

"Yes, I do." Dimitri answered. "I won't insult you by saying I don't have certain issues to deal with, but I'm a trained guardian and as such I will perform as such. If I feel that my past is in any way threatening the safety of those around me, I'll let you know immediately."

"I appreciate that." He said with a nod before looking down at his joined hands. "Now, with that out of the way, I must ask you something else. It has come to my attention that not only are you both involved with each other, but you are in fact engaged to be married..."

Instantly my guard went up... "That won't be a problem will it, guardian Mathews?" I asked defensively. Yesterday's confrontation with Headmaster Lazar immediately flashed through my mind.

"In a way it does Guardian Hathaway." _Oh, here we go again..._

My eyes narrowed and my lips tightened slightly and braced myself for anything... My attention was so focused on Mathews, I didn't notice that Dimitri's grip on my hand tightened.

"I don't really give a shit what you think about our engagement."

"You didn't let me finish Guardian Hathaway." Mathews said holding his hands up in a gesture to stop my immanent explosion. "I personally don't have a problem with your relationship, I actually commend you both. I only wish that more of our people had not only the wish to, but also the guts to stand up for what they want." _Okay... so far, so good!_ "The problem will be more with the Moroi on the academy grounds; both faculty and students... You must realise this."

"Do I look like the sort of person that cares?"

"No..." he said with the faintest of smiles. "But that doesn't mean that others won't react none the less... I'm not asking you to hide your engagement if anyone asks, but in light of what's happened here recently, I am asking if you'll keep any... public displays, private."

"Guardian Mathews, I am a guardian and a damn good one at that. I have and always will conduct myself as such. What I will _not_ do though is deny who and what this man beside me is. He is my life and he is my hero and just over a year ago I lost him and through my grief and confusion I let others tell me how I was to forget him and not acknowledge what we had. I will _not_ do that ever again. I will be the guardian that my thirty-eight molnija marks say that I am, but I will also be Dimitri's fiancé. If you think that people around here will have a problem with me putting my life between them and a strigoi bent on sucking the life out of them, then tell us now and we'll leave right this second." I felt Dimitri's hand tighten on my leg. I didn't know if it was to tell me to shut up or if it was his reaction to what I'd said. Last night he'd not only showed me his reaction to what I'd said to Lazar but informed me of desire to defile Lazar's desk.

Before I could stop them, my eyes did a quick assessment of the size of Mathew's desk... I was grinning like crazy behind my well practised guardian mask.

"Fair enough, if you run into any problems, let me know and I'll deal with them. Moroi won't be your only problem... you know this, right?"

"Yes, we know this." Dimitri said. I looked over to him for the first time since Mathews brought up the 'engagement' conversation and the first thing I saw was the battle going on in his eyes. I was pretty sure Mathew's wouldn't have seen it; after all, his face betrayed nothing... But I knew Dimitri extremely well. His face may not have betrayed anything but there were other parts of his body that weren't so disciplined; this was the second thing I saw when I looked at him. I silently hoped that Mathews wouldn't have any need for us in the next hour or two...

"Alright, listen... I have a meeting with Headmaster Lazar to get to. These are some files of the Moroi and Dhampir students here; go over them so you know more about them. When you're finished, report to Guardian Petrovskii and he'll send you to where we need you to be." With that he walked out of the room.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you Roza." Dimitri's voice was low and dangerous and I knew what I'd see if I looked at him, I'd see predatory eyes looking back at me so I kept _my_ eyes forward. My heart hammered in my chest as peripherally, I saw Dimitri stand up from his seat and walk behind me. I closed my eyes in anticipation.

"I saw you look at this desk." He said at my ear. "I know what you were thinking... wicked thoughts, right?" The little hairs on the back of my neck that weren't tied up in the bun on my head stood on end. I kept my eyes closed as I felt his fingertip slowly trace down my neck and over my collar and then proceed all the way down my spine; goosebumps following in its wake. "Wicked people need to put in their place Roza. Are you wicked?"

_You have no idea_... I thought as I grinned like a kid on Christmas morning. "Only a little..."

"Oh, I think you're more than a _little_ wicked my love." He said at my other ear.

"Well, you would know I suppose..." I said as I turned my head around to look at him. _Yup... he had on his hungry eyes._

"Stay right where you are my love." I didn't dare move, I really, really liked this Dimitri; probably a little more than was healthy at times. I was curious as to what he was doing – until I heard the click of the door being locked.

_Oh yes!_ The little me inside my head was running around doing some ridiculous 'I win' moves, fists pumping and the same huge shit eating grin that I wore only hours before as we left our room.

"Stand up." He said from behind me. I did exactly as I was told... I was conscious of the chair I'd just been sitting in, being dragged away from behind me. My breath caught as his hands took hold of my hips.

"Do you want the Moroi files or the Dhampir files?" I heard Dimitri ask.

_HUH! What the hell?_ I opened my eyes to see that I was still sitting in my chair and Dimitri was standing on the other side of the desk... _What the f..._

"What's that face for?" Dimitri asked me with a wry expression.

"Um..." _What in the hell just happened? Oh crap... I just played all that out in my head! What's wrong with me? It's only been a matter of hours since our 'all nighter' ended and here I am fantasising all over again! I need therapy..._

As I dropped my eyes in slight embarrassment, I caught sight of the object of my fantasies. Somehow, I don't think I was alone in my thoughts. "Do we have to read those files...here?" I asked as I looked back up at him.

A slight grin pulled at the corner of his mouth. "I don't see it hurting to read these...elsewhere."

_Yes..._

I stood up and leant over the desk...just enough so that I knew he could see down the front of my top as it fell forward. _What can I say? I'm horny!_ I picked up a file without taking my eyes off his, having no idea which one I'd picked up and then slowly stood up again. I slowly took a step backwards, then another. The grin on his face increased slightly as one of his eyebrows started to rise. Soon enough, I reached the door and I blindly found the lock and unlocked the door. He grabbed the other file on the desk and took a step sideways and as he did so, I quickly opened the door and ran. I knew without looking that he was right behind me and I knew that with his super long legs that it wouldn't take long for him to catch up to me, so I ran with everything I had in me.

I don't know if he let me get there first or not, but I was alone when I reached our room so I quickly fumbled for the key in my pocket. I heard footsteps climbing the stair rapidly as I slipped into our room and I shut the door. I glanced around noticing that it was still in the state of disarray that we'd left it this morning... that was good in a way, now we'd only need to clean up once! Always the optimist – that's me!

I put the folder on the small table beside on the left side of the door and then quickly placed myself on the right side of the door. As I watched the handle slowly turn, I held my breath... Images of what I'd do when he entered the room flashed through my mind in seconds... The door kept opening inch by slow inch, so slowly in fact that I was fast running out of patience and only moments from opening the door myself. I'd expected him to open it all the way, thus completely hiding me behind it, but he didn't. I couldn't work out why the door stopped moving when it was only just more than a foot opened. The space was barely big enough for his head to fit through, let alone his amazing, jaw dropping body.

_What are you waiting for?_

The door slowly moved again and my heart sped up. I think Dimitri has just earned a new name; God of Suspense! The door was now open enough for him to come through and I smiled when I saw his hand wrap around the edge of the door. I heard him put the folder on the table where I'd put mine. My body was coiled and ready to pounce at just the right time... As I saw his body move inside, I slammed the door closed and jumped onto his back all in one swift movement.

His hand reached up over his shoulder and grabbed me roughly, pulling me up and over his head... God, he's strong... but then, so am I. I quickly clung myself to the front of him and no matter what he did, I was like a fly on shit... he couldn't get rid of me. It didn't take him long to stop trying to untangle me from his body.

"You're faster than I remember..." He growled as he softly bit into my earlobe.

"I told you, there's a whole other side of me that you don't know."

"I saw that side last night maya krasaveetsa."

"Most of it... but not all." I said as I crushed my mouth to his.

Fingers pulled hair out of bindings, clothes onto the floor and feelings out of bodies... I was now completely sure that the more we did this, the more I hungered for him.

_I think I really do need therapy..._

More than an hour later, we decided that we should probably look over the files. An hour after that we were washed, clothed and reporting for duty. We couldn't fine Stas anywhere on the grounds, so we tried the guardian's lunch room. As we walked in, we were met with a wide arrangement of expressions. Some were openly smirking, most showed nothing but then a couple were plainly disgusted.

I remembered that feeling at St Vladimir's after word had got around that two guardians had given up their titles to be together; even I had thought they were wrong to do what they did. How naivé I was back then, my view on the world was so black and white that I didn't even recognise the shades of grey we lived in 90% of the time. Dimitri squeezed my hand and we made our way inside.

"Nice to see that you do actually come up for air once in a while." Stas said leaning back in his chair smiling.

"Yeah well, even badass Gods such as Dimitri need to breathe."

Stas choked on his mouthful of coffee.

"Rose..." Dimitri grumbled. But I was on a roll... the audience just gave me the reason I needed to shove it up their asses...

"Even though ears are joined up to the back of your throat, that's one trick he hasn't learnt yet."

"_ROSE!" _Dimitri said rather loud.

Stas literally fell on the floor in shock. Chairs around us scraped loudly as they were pushed back in haste and I couldn't help but smirk.

"What? It's nothing to be ashamed of lover. If more of these stiffs were honest with themselves, they too would know what I'm talking about."

"You really are pushing their patience you know."

"I know..." I whispered evilly. "It's fun hey."

We looked back as Stas got up off the floor laughing. "You're definitely staying Hathaway. I don't care what Mammoth here wants, you're staying right here. This place needs a good shake up."

"I aim to please."

"I'm sure you do." He shook his head slightly and continued to drink what was left of his coffee. The room was now only half as full as when we walked in. _Go Rose! Way to clear a room... _At least now I knew who I could trust and who I couldn't. "Grab something to eat; I'm sure you're hungry. Once you're finished I'll take you over to where we need your help."

For the next half hour we ate and chatted like long lost friends. I was actually surprised that Dimitri and Stas were such good friends. He seemed to be more like someone I'd be friends with, not straight-laced Dimitri. He asked Dimitri about his capture, to which Dimitri told a quick outline of events. I didn't know if he didn't want to talk about it around me, or didn't want Stas to know the really bad stuff.

Soon enough, Stas led us one of the dorms on lower campus; it had been the worst hit. Some of the strigoi had been recognised as past students and they had obviously known that it would pose an easier target housing student who didn't know how to fight properly. An academy plane was on its way from the European court to ferry students to safer grounds while the cleanup continued. All senior dhampirs would be staying on the grounds.

As the sky started to lighten and the last of the Moroi and young dhampirs had taken off, Dimitri and I made our way back to our room. We were exhausted, we didn't get much sleep last night and we were still recovering from the fight we had before we even got here. Now, after what we'd done today in the cleanup, I could barely put one foot in front of the other.

As we snuggled down into bed, I saw the sun shine its first rays across the academy, but I didn't remember seeing the second. I'd often been amazed at how guardians were able to go to sleep before their heads hit the pillows, now I knew.

=x=

"Good morning sunshine." I knew that voice anywhere.

"Who said it was good?" I grumbled with a grin.

"I did. After all, you're here beside me."

"Yes, you are a lucky man aren't you?"

"Extremely." I could feel the smile on his lips as he kissed me good morning. I licked my lips as I stretched and when I opened my eyes, I started to laugh.

"Neat freak! You just couldn't wait, could you?"

"Well, I know that the mess was kind of like a badge of honour for you," _He knew me so well... _"But I nearly broke my neck when I got up this morning, and as I didn't want you to do the same, I thought I'd tidy up."

"Ah, so it was for _my_ benefit..."

"Everything I do is for your benefit my love."

"Come and say good morning properly." I said as I held out my arms.

"I did already; we don't have time for _your_ version of 'good morning'. Headmaster Lazar wants to see us in fifteen minutes." He said looking down at his watch.

"Like that's gonna happen. I may be a guardian, but I'm also female and you should know it takes me more than that to get ready."

His eyes narrowed and his lips pulled up into a grin... _Oh, what's he going to do?_

Like lightening, he reached down and grabbed my ankles and pulled me across the bed to where he stood. He bent down and wrapped his arms around me and flung me over his shoulder. Thank God dhampirs heal fast; I only felt tenderness in my ribs.

"AH! You beast! Put me down caveman..." I laughed. My laughter died away pretty quickly as I realised we were heading for the small ensuite... _He wouldn't... Yeah, he would!_

"Dimitri Belikov, don't you dare!"

He ripped open curtain of the shower and plonked me down onto my feet, while turning the cold water tap on in one swift movement.

"AAAHHH! For all the love of _God_! You mongrel!" I screamed as I tried to get away from the cold water.

You could only just hear his laughter under the sounds of my screeching.

"You need a shower Roza and I know a cold one will be quick!" he said as he tried to back away.

_Oh, no you don't..._ I tightened my grip on his shirt and pulled him in with me. If I have to have a cold shower, then so does he! Only fair I reckon. One thing that certainly worked in my favour though was the fact that a wet Dimitri is a sight to behold... especially one in a thin, white shirt. Apparently, he realised the error of his ways too when he looked down at my wet clothes and then the cold water wasn't so cold anymore; though the shower was quicker than normal.

=x=

We now stood in front of Lazar as he motioned to the chairs that we'd sat in before.

"Not one for rules, are you Hathaway?"

"Not really." I answered truthfully.

"Yes well, I've been in touch with the Royal Court and they've given me permission to tell you that you've been given temporary guardian status while you are with us Guardian Belikov."

I guess Lazar thought I'd be happy with that announcement. "Temporary? Why only temporary? Is he only good enough to be recognised when it suits them?"

"No, not at all. The queen wants to meet with him before he gets his full title back, that's all. She also asked if you can return as soon as possible." That was a little unexpected. She and I didn't exactly see eye to eye, me being on the other side of the planet should have been something that she wouldn't want to change real soon I would have thought. "Until then, I was would like you both to take a few classes with the remaining seniors. Their teacher was one of the casualties."

Our first class had been scheduled for after lunch. When we first walked in, the kids were talking loudly amongst themselves. When they turned to see who had walked in, you could have heard a pin drop. The guys looked me up and down, some licking their lips and grinning, the few girls in the class were staring at Dimitri with hungry eyes...

_Yeah, I know... yummy hey! _I thought to myself with a grin. We'd planned that Dimitri would take the beginning of the class.

"This class will be conducted in English." He said straight up. "...Guardian Hathaway doesn't speak Russian. I am guardian Dimitri Belikov and we will be training you for the time being." He gave them a few seconds so that they could whisper amongst themselves and then called the class to order. I must say that they were slightly more focused than my senior class was. I think most of them were in awe about who was standing in front of them though. They'd grown up hearing about Dimitri; I'd heard the whispers since arriving here. He was legend in the US, here... here he was their ultimate, he was what every one of them strived to emulate and my heart sang to see what their respect and admiration meant to him.


End file.
